The 'To Do' List
by DarkAngelGrl22567
Summary: AU. KH/FF characters are in high school and when some seniors make up a 'to do' list havoc ensues, friends break apart, others become friends, new kids come, and relationships are discovered. Rated M. YAOI INVOLVED!
1. Chapter 1

**The 'To Do' List**

**Chapter One**

*******************

Axel, Xemnas, Luxord, Demyx, Saix, Xaldin, and Xigbar were all sitting at a round plastic table. Axel was next to Demyx, who was next to Luxord and Xaldin, and Saix was sitting very close to Xigbar next to them. It was the first day of their senior year in high school and they were starting to let it go to their heads.

"Yeah!" Cried Axel as he lifted his feet on top of the table letting the mud caused from the rain storm outside drip off his boots. "Senior year, baby! Woo! We can practically do whatever we want now." He boasted.

Luxord and Xaldin were playing an immense game of poker; regardless of the school's gambling prohibition. Luxord had obviously won again because Xaldin slammed his hand down and swore loudly.

Saix shook his head at them. "You would think you would stop betting your paycheck when you're against Luxord in poker, Xaldin." He spoke calmly from across the table to him.

Xaldin glared at him. "Shove it, Saix." And he turned his attention to his newly dealt hand.

Xigbar looked over at his twin and glared. "Why don't you shove it? You're just jealous that you can't have him anymore."

Xaldin was only paying attention to the game but he snorted and flipped him off anyway.

Luxord tore his attention from his game to input, "Can you guys believe what they named this shit-hole of a school?"

Axel scoffed. "Hell no. I don't know what they were thinking." He lifted his feet off the table as he saw the vice principal walking by, "Radiant Garden? I liked the old high school better."

The old high school they went to was knocked down because of the interior started to fall apart. The city had a new one built over the summer and no one seemed to like it.

Demyx smirked through the cafeteria's double doors in the direction of the entrance at a person who had bright pink hair, holding a flower. "Marluxia seems to like it."

No sooner was the sentence out of his mouth - Marluxia, with flower in hand, skipped all around the café, yelling, "I love it here!" And disappeared to the art room.

Axel shook his head. "Could he **be** more gay?" He asked himself.

Demyx slapped Axel on the arm. "I think it's cute." He pouted.

Axel rolled his eyes in response. "Of **course** you do."

The boys' attention now turned to the entrance again as murmurs erupted when a boy, probably a freshman, with blue, messy hair came into view. It was obvious he was new because he cast nervous glances in every direction and his eyes finally rested on the office to the left of him. He walked over to it, opened the door and disappeared behind it.

Xemnas was the first to have a remark about him. "Well, I guess it's no secret now that he's the new kid everybody's been going on about."

Axel turned his attention to Xemnas. "I haven't heard a damn thing about a new kid. How do you know about him?"

He shrugged. "When you live with a bunch of teenage girls you hear things on the occasion."

Xigbar looked over as Demyx who was staring in the direction of the office the boy disappeared into. "Hey! Dem, you're drooling."

"Wha-?" He blushed at getting caught.

Xaldin narrowed his eyes at Demyx over his cards. "Don't tell me you're pinning for a **freshman**."

Demyx looked down sheepishly. "No..."

Axel looked at him in shock. "You are! Oh, Christ! You actually **like** the stupid freshman?"

"Sh-shut up!" He stuttered.

Luxord sighed then smirked at his hand while looking up at Xaldin. "I win again."

Xaldin's mouth hung open in shock. "How do you know?"

"Because I have a royal flush." He tossed his hand down on the table and sure enough, combined with the five cards on the table, he had a royal flush.

"Fuck!" Xaldin yelled and threw down his hand as Luxord took the rest of his money and put the cards away.

"No swearing, mister, that's three demerits!" Cried the vice principal who had taken to sitting at the table next to them.

Xaldin mouthed 'fuck you' to him behind his back while Xigbar shook his head at him.

"Honestly, dude, you should check if there are any teachers around before you yell out a curse." He scolded.

Xaldin shot him a death glare from across the table.

Demyx then turned to Axel with an animated look on his face. "Soooo...how did things go with Xion last night?" He waggled his eyebrows at him.

Axel laughed arrogantly and leaned his chair back so it was balancing on two legs. "Awesome, one less person I need to fuck at least."

They all joined in with his laughter.

Xaldin leaned in at him, "So, how was she?"

He smirked. "Like I'll tell you. Let's just say if she wanted to go into the porn business she'd make a promising career." He said, as they all shrieked with laughter again.

"So, I have everybody crossed off of my list. I guess I win the bet." Axel gloated.

Xemnas snickered. "I think not."

Axel leaned forward so fast his chair slammed back onto the ground. "Waddya mean, 'I think not'?"

"I have one other person to add to your list before you can claim victorious." He said calmly.

Axel calmed down and leaned back again. "Really?" He drew the word out. "Who?"

"You know him."

"**Him?**" Axel raised his eyebrows. Everybody knew he was bi but they all agreed that they only have girls on the lists they made. Girls were more prone and easier to suck in.

"A certain, loving blonde."

"You don't mean Roxas do you?" Demyx all but screamed.

Xemnas nodded. "I mean Roxas."

Axel scoffed at him in response. "Fine. It'll be easy."

Saix narrowed his eyes at Xemnas. He was trying to figure out why Xemnas was doing this. Everybody in the Organization knew that Axel always had a thing for the blonde. And Xemnas wasn't gay; so it wasn't jealousy. He better watch out though, Axel was his best friend. If Xemnas does anything to hurt him, 'Mansex' won't know what hit him.

"Was she as good as Namine was?" Xaldin asked Axel with an eagerness that Saix found disgusting.

Axel turned to him. "Who?"

"Xion. Was she has good as Namine?"

"Again; not saying anything about it." He let the chair fall back to in its proper position on the floor. "I'll give you the video instead so you can see for yourself."

Saix narrowed his eyes at Axel this time. "You video taped it?" He asked coldly.

Axel laughed loudly. "Sure I did! I wanted to see her face over and over as I gave her the best ride of her life." He began doing obscene gestures with his body to emphasize it.

"You disgust me."

The whole group fell silent leaving Saix's words hanging in the air.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Axel looked at him skeptically. "You were all for it before, why are you all of sudden against it?"

"Before we weren't tricking them into bed with us. They knew what was going to happen the next morning. They knew that it didn't mean anything. What you're doing now is cruel and disgusting. I can't believe I ever dated something like you." He spat at him as he got up and left, leaving them all shocked in his wake.

"Uhhh, I'm gonna go with him, make sure the dude doesn't do anything stupid, like punching mirrors…or walls." Xigbar announced as he got up and followed Saix.

Axel started laughing which caused Luxord and Demyx to look at him in shock.

"Saix is going soft is all it is. It's his final year in high school and he wants to do it right. So stupid…" He muttered.

"I don't know, Axel..." Began Demyx. "He seemed really serious. You know he's not the type to care about other people."

"Well, apparently, now he is."

Luxord rolled his eyes. "You're being idiots. Just forget about it and enjoy the first day."

"Yeah," Axel said, "Let's go in the halls and lead the freshman in the wrong direction to their classes." Axel laughed as he got up and headed down the hall.

Demyx followed after him, wondering if Axel would ever grow up.

WITH SAIX AND XIGBAR

Xigbar was holding a damp paper towel to Saix's knuckles tightly.

"Dude, you gotta stop punching things whenever you get pissed. You're gonna break somethin'" Xigbar scolded.

Saix rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Why do you care so much about what happens to Xion anyway?"

"I don't. I just don't think we should be doing this 'list' anymore. It's a waste of time and Xion is bound to have some friends. Remember what Kairi and Leon did to Axel when they found out about Namine?"

Xigbar nodded. Kairi was Namine's sister and Leon was like a big brother to the girl. Both had approached Axel and threatened him, although Leon gave him an example of what he would do. Axel blew it off but everyone saw his bruises and cut lip.

"And now, he's just setting himself up for another fight. I've seen Seifer even give him dirty looks in the hallway. One of these days, Axel is going to get himself killed."

Xigbar took the paper towel off of his hand and looked at it. "I know, man, but Axel's a big boy. He can handle himself. Now, you on the other hand...it stopped bleeding but we better get the nurse to check it out."

Saix scoffed and wrenched his hand out of Xigbar's grip. "I don't need to go to the nurse and I don't need you babying me."

"Hey! I'm not babying you! I'm **taking care** of you. There's a difference." Xigbar protested.

Saix rolled his eyes and moved towards the door and swung it open. "Whatever."

Xigbar followed behind him. "Hey, Saix!" He grabbed Saix's arm and spun him around to face him. "I'm not babying you! You hear me! I'm treating you like normal boyfriends do!"

Saix sighed. "Yeah, I know. I'm just worried is all."

Xigbar grabbed his hand and held it tightly. "That's okay, so long as you continue to hate Xaldin." He teased, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Saix smirked, knowing full well what Xigbar was doing. "I still can't believe I dated twins."

Xigbar shrugged. "I can't either but in the end you got the better one."

"Now, are you ready to go back to the table?" He offered.

"I guess so. But if Axel makes one more remark about this list he and I are going to have a little chat." Saix threatened.

Xigbar gulped and lead him out of the bathroom, heading back to the cafeteria.

"Well, you can worry about that if he does. But I doubt he'll bring it up again today."

"He better not."

WITH ROXAS AND CO.

Roxas was sitting in Pence's black 'ghetto' (as he called it) SUV just looking out the window very depressed.

It was the first day of school. He hated school. School meant only two things to him; no more sleeping in and a total waste of time. He knew he needed to go to school be anything when he was an adult but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Hey, Roxas! Are you excited for school?" Pence asked him while making sure to keep his eyes on the road ahead.

"Ecstatic." He said in monotone, never averting his gaze to the blurry scenery.

Pence smiled at his remark. "Awww, c'mon. It can't be **that** bad to be back."

"You're just saying that because you're not a freshman anymore."

"True."

They soon arrived at the school and parked in the student parking lot.

Roxas moaned when he saw Larxene get out of her car clad in a pastel pink shirt that clung to her like a second skin and blue skinny jeans.

Pence looked at him, curious to see what he moaned about. Then he saw Larxene and knew why.

"Larxene isn't really all that bad, Roxas. She's just a little..." He broke off while trying to find the right word for the girl who was currently staring at Axel through the café doors.

"Obsessive?" Roxas offered as he stepped out of the SUV with his backpack slung across one shoulder, leaving one strap neglected.

Pence rushed to catch up to him. "That's a little harsh, Roxas. It's just her personality. Just like it's yours to be all emo and sit in a corner all day."

Roxas shot him a death glare. "I don't sit in corners all day."

"Sure you don't."

They fell silent while they sat at a table in the cafeteria that was three tables away from Axels'.

Roxas just began to get out his books when someone yelled, "Pence!" from across the room. He looked up from his backpack to see Olette tackling Pence with a hug and Pence barely able to stand.

"Hey, Olette!" Pence greeted.

Olette started to playfully pout. "Is that all you can say?"

"What do you me to say?"

Olette smiled. "Nothing."

Roxas smirked as he got what Olette was referring to and Pence obviously did not because his face wrinkled in confusion.

"What?" Pence asked.

Olette giggled then wrapped her arms around Pence's neck and kissed him. It wasn't a long kiss but long enough that Roxas started feeling very uncomfortable and felt the need to look away.

When he looked away he locked eyes with Axel who was staring at him intensely. It felt like they stared at each other for hours to Roxas when, in reality, it was only a few seconds. He saw Axel smirk before Olette's giggling brought him back to where he was.

He decided it was safe enough to look at the overly happy couple. Olette's arms were still linked together around Pence's neck while Pence's hands were wrapped around her waist holding her closer than Roxas thought possible to him.

"Well, I take you're happy to see me." Pence said to Olette.

She only giggled again in response. That was the only thing that bothered Roxas about Olette, she giggled way too much. It seemed that was the only thing she knew how to do.

Once they started to get all lovey-dovey with each other again Roxas needed to get out of the café before he started gagging.

He grabbed his pack and strode out the double doors that were right in front of Axel's table, making sure to avoid the red-head's gaze. He decided to go wait for Namine at her locker as something to do before school actually started.

"Hey, Roxas!" He heard someone yell to him from behind.

He groaned inwardly; he knew that voice.

He turned around to Axel and waited for him to catch up. When he got closer he started for the stairs and heard Axel following him.

"What do you want, Axel?"

"What? I can't say hi to my best friend?" Axel said as he threw an arm around Roxas' shoulders.

Roxas shrugged it off and continued walking towards Namine's locker, trying to ignore Axel as much as possible.

"You may just want to go, Axel." Roxas suggested coldly.

Axel looked taken aback. "Waddya mean? Why are you being an ass all of a sudden? Did Saix talk to you or something?"

Roxas shook his head. "I haven't heard from Saix since the last day of school last year. I'm being 'an ass' because Sora told me what you did to Namine over the summer. And if **I'm** an ass then I have no idea what that makes you."

Axel just stood there, his mouth hanging open, and didn't move. He just stared at Roxas and Roxas stared back.

"Namine doesn't know what she's talking about." Axel finally said.

"Why wouldn't she? I can't see a good reason why she would lie about how you screwed her then said, 'That was fun. But I wanna break up.' I mean did you loose your morals or something, Axel. I didn't think you were capable of doing something like that. I mean, I know you think a lot of yourself, but I didn't think you thought so much of yourself that you stopped caring about anything else but you." He said.

Again, Axel just stood there, mouth agape, and stared. This was clearly not what he had in mind for his first day of school.

He finally tore his gaze away from Roxas' eyes down to the floor and sighed. "Look, I get it; you think I'm an ass. But I didn't think she thought we were actually steady or something. To me, from the very beginning, it was nothing but an opportunity. I thought she knew that. But I guess I thought wrong. Can you forgive me, Roxie?"

Roxas sucked in a breath from the use of this childhood name. Axel was the only who used it now, well, more like the only one **allowed** to use it now, but still...and that combined with Axels' pathetic puppy-dog-eyes look caused Roxas to mentally surrender.

Axel smiled because he knew what was going on. He was forgiven.

"Fine. Just can you apologize to Namine? It would make me feel better about talking to you again." Roxas requested.

Axels' smile fell. "What? **Apologize?**" He faltered after he caught Roxas' glare in his direction.

"I guess I could try..." Axel shuffled his feet as he said it.

Roxas beamed at him. "Good. I know you can make this better, Axel. Just give it a try."

Axel nodded and walked off, his shoulder's slightly slumped and he was muttering something that sounded like, 'Gonna harder than I thought.'

_What ever that means, _thought Roxas.

He waited another five minutes after Axel left when Namine finally came into view down the hallway.

"Hey, Namine!" Roxas called to her, trying to gain her attention from the floor.

She looked up and Roxas' eyes tightened. She looked worse than he heard about from Sora who heard about it from Kairi. It was clear that even after it had been at least a month after the Axel incident that she was taking it hard.

_He better make one helluva apology._

"How are you doing?" He asked her as she moved to open her locker while still looking solemn.

When she didn't answer he went on. "What kind of classes are you taking? You better be taking that advanced drawing class you wanted to take last year. You're an amazing artist."

She still continued to act like nothing was being said between the two and loaded her bag with books that were bound to give her back problems in the future.

Roxas sighed. Clearly she wasn't in the mood for talking but he had to get her to say **something.**

"Look, I know what Axel did was wrong, but it was a month ago, Namine! You gotta let it go!" Roxas claimed.

She visibly froze while she was crouched down by the floor. Roxas watched as she slowly rose and slammed her locker shut. She turned toward him glaring at him so fiercely that he was afraid he would melt on the spot and she hit him in the back of the head with her messenger bag and stalked off.

Roxas, having fallen down from the blow, sat there in the middle of the hallway stunned.

He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts and slung his bag back over his shoulder and strode after her.

_Guess the thing with Axel was worse than I thought; _he thought to himself as he watched her run down the stairs and followed after her. _She better not go mute. She barely talks as it is..._

He watched as she approached her sister and then burst into tears. Kairi held Namine and looked around wildly for the cause of her sister's hysterics. Her eyes narrowed at Roxas which caused him to have a burning need to use the bathroom before she decided to approach him.

He ran for the bathroom door and bolted towards an open stall and locked it. With his breathing slightly out of order he leaned against the stall wall.

_This is going to be a long year..._

**A/N: Hey, guys, I know I should be working on my Supernatural story right now but I got the idea for this fic and just had to write it down. I hope you're not too awfully mad at me...**

**Well, basically, just review and let me know what you think. **

**I love you guys!**

**~DarkAngelGrl22567**


	2. Chapter 2

Namine couldn't seem to stop the awful wailing cries that were coming out of her tiny body and bouncing off the bathroom walls which made them seem all that much louder. She hated that he had this much power over her. She hated that she still cried over him even after what he did to her.

When she ran into her sister's arms in the hallway, crying like a little baby, she couldn't stop. Kairi tried to calm her down but it was useless so she led her to the girls' bathroom to try to calm her down. And now, that didn't seem like that was going to work either.

"Shhhh." Kairi soothed as she held her sister tightly as if that would help.

Namine tried to speak to her but all that came out was a sick strangling sound so she finally gave up and continued wailing.

She heard a couple people enter the bathroom and saw them glare in their direction in her peripheral vision. She didn't care. She felt like the whole world could've ended and she wouldn't care.

Eventually, it felt like forever to Namine, her cries quieted to random sniffling and the occasional hiccup.

After making sure her sister's crying had subsided Kairi tried to speak to her.

"**Now** will you tell me why you were crying?" Kairi asked pulling Namine away from her to look at her.

Namine hesitated.

She knew that if she told Kairi that Roxas only mentioned Axel then one of two things would happen.

One; Kairi would tell their parents and they would have her sent to a shrink. Two; Kairi would track down both Axel (again) and Roxas and yell at them until her voice gave out, and Namine didn't want her sister to fight her battles. She would find a way to deal with this on her own.

She shook her head and bent down to get her backpack that had been abandoned when she had her fit. As she stalked out the door she saw a glimpse of Kairi in the mirror, she looked worried and pissed all at the same time.

Namine figured she would have that reaction. Kairi wasn't stupid, far from it. She would figure out sooner or later, probably sooner, that it had something to do with Axel. But she would deal with that when the time came.

She has only walked a couple feet away from the bathroom when she heard the bell go off above her which made her jump slightly.

Namine checked her watch and it read 7:55 am. She sighed; she hadn't realized it was that late already. She thought she would have a couple minutes to get herself together before having to face other people.

She quickly got her schedule out of her backpack and glanced at the first class.

She held in a groan. Government. Great, the one class she didn't want today.

She stuffed her schedule back into her backpack and hurried off downstairs.

When she arrived at the class she scanned the room for anyone who might try to talk to her. She hoped no one was there because she didn't really feel like talking right now.

As she over-looked the room she heard people start to whisper things. She knew it was about her because she heard her name and Axel's in the same sentence. So everyone knew what happened. This day just kept on getting better and better.

Namine almost collapsed when she saw two of Axel's friends in the back, both were talking about something that amused them because they were laughing hysterically. Xaldin motioned for Xemnas to look at something and Namine wanted to crawl into a hole when they both looked at her then back at each other for another laughing fit.

So they were talking about her. Wonderful. Was there anyone who didn't know? She doubted it.

She gathered up as much courage as she could and walked over to her desk and began setting things out for her class. When she was done she straightened and her eyes strayed towards the door at another person who was entering the classroom.

Roxas. He was almost as bad as Xaldin and Xemnas being in this class. He looked like he was about to wave to her so she quickly settled herself into her chair and pretended that she hadn't seen him.

As she did this she noticed Seifer sitting in the desk behind her which made her stiffen. She was friends with Seifer and she knew that he knew about Axel. She hoped that, with him being a senior this year that he will finally have a sudden interest in the class.

The teacher approached the front of the classroom and motioned for everyone to quiet down so she could begin.

Namine then had a feeling that someone was watching her.

She looked over her shoulder to see Roxas and not Seifer, as she had been expecting, staring at her from across the room and, in a panic she quickly turned back to face the teacher.

She hoped he would get the message and leave her alone. She didn't want to be bothered by anyone today, especially him.

_______________________________________________________________________

Roxas watched Namine from across the room. He couldn't help it. He just felt like he had to.

So far Namine had not spoken in class at all. She kept her mouth firmly closed and seemed to be absorbed in what the teacher was saying but Roxas knew better.

It's true, they had dated for a couple months but those couple months had been like dating his sister, because that's what she was to him. His sister. He still didn't know why Sora and Kairi had pushed them together from the beginning. It was probably because they were denial themselves. Not so much now, what with them all over each other everywhere they go, school or not.

Roxas saw the teacher give Namine an expectant look every time she asked a question. Like the teacher wanted Namine to raise her hand and give her that answer that always blew the teachers minds away. But not today, she just listened and occasionally wrote down notes.

Out of the corner of his eye Roxas saw Xaldin and Xemnas talking. He knew it was about Namine because they both looked at her once and burst into laughter causing the teacher to scold them and tell them to either be quiet or go the office. They chose the first.

Roxas glared in their direction and turned away, now focusing intently on the person in front of him.

He would be having a talk with Axel about keeping certain things to himself. It was starting to feel like he didn't know who Axel was anymore.

The Axel he knew wouldn't have used someone like that; opportunity or not. He wouldn't have told all of his buddies about it so they could point and laugh later.

Ever since he joined the 'Organization' Axel had been acting weird and being a jerk most of the time. This time topped it all off. It couldn't really get much worse.

And as Roxas started to focus more on Namine he realized that Seifer was focusing an awful lot on her, too.

It didn't surprise him. Almost everyone knew that Seifer had a thing for Namine except for Namine. It was almost pitiful, the way he would be so absorbed in whatever she would talk about.

He was surprised that Seifer hadn't blown up like Leon had when he heard about Axel. Although, he was partly glad he didn't because he didn't know whether Seifer would've stopped when Leon did. He thought Seifer might try to run Axel over with his convertible. Then again...Seifer loved his car and he probably didn't want it to get dirty.

Roxas wondered whether Seifer could get Namine to talk about it. He probably could if he bugged her long enough. Lord knows he bugs Roxas enough to give him migraines sometimes.

Hopefully, Axel would apologize to Namine and hopefully Namine would take it and they could just forget this all happened. But, he didn't really think that was going to happen any time soon.

_______________________________________________________________________

WITH AXEL

_Damn Namine! Damn her!_ Thought Axel to himself.

Why couldn't she just have kept her mouth shut at least to Roxas? Why did she have to blurt it out to everyone who'll give her some sympathy? Damn her!

He had just got done talking to Roxas who had basically drove him into the ground because of what 'he did' to Namine. It's not his fault. Namine was on the list and he wanted that five hundred promised if one of them cleared it.

Not that he needed it. His dad had left him plenty to fend off of when he died. And so did his mom. So, basically, Axel was pretty much set for the rest of his life. This 'list' was just a way to have some fun before high school is done. And he would make sure that he won.

Although, Roxas was going to a lot harder then he thought. He'll have to work at this carefully. He didn't really **want** to 'fuck 'em and leave 'em' as the boys called it, with Roxas.

This was really hard. His reputation was at stake if he didn't. And if he did...well, he might lose Roxas forever.

"Axel!" He heard a very cheery voice come up to him from behind say.

He groaned. "Marluxia."

"Hey, Sexy! Why so down?" He asked, still holding his beloved pink flower while he sat down next to the red-head.

"I'm not 'down'. I'm thinking."

Marluxia nodded. "So that's why your face is all screwed up and there's steam coming out of your ears." He said matter-of-factly.

Axel gritted his teeth. Marluxia got on his nerves, A LOT. And today was one of those days.

"I do **not** have steam blowing out of my ear."

"Right. But anyway, have you seen the Twilight Town kids?" He seemed just about ready to bounce off of his seat.

"The Twilight Town kids?" Axel asked.

Marluxia nodded again. "Yeah, the little group of kids who're from Twilight Town. They're really cute! Except for Devon...he needs to go away. He ruins my moods; he's always either mad or crying."

Axel raised his eyebrows. "And I care, why?"

Marluxia giggled. "Because one of them, thinks you and Roxas would be the **most adorable **couple **ever**."

"And?"

"Her names' Rose. **Rose,** Axel. As in the flower. I love her already."

"Again, why do I care?"

Mrluxia huffed. "Well, one of them is the one that Demyx was after this morning."

This made Axel perk up. "Wait, the new kid?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so let me get this straight. So, new kid is in a group of new kids from Twilight Town and Demyx is pinning after said new kid?"

Marluxia beamed. "I always knew you were smart, Axel." Then he proceeded to give him the biggest hug he's ever received.

For a minute Axel wondered whether the bright lights he was seeing were real. Then they disappeared and his ragged breathing took their place.

"I can always count on you to try and kill me." Axel managed to get out.

Marluxia pouted, but it was way too five-year-old-ish to actually be taken seriously. "You're always so mean to me, Axel!"

Axel regained his breathing and smirked at Marluxia. "I know. Now, you need to tell me everything about this Rose."

Marluxia's face scrunched up. "Why? I thought you'd want to know more about Zexion."

"Who?"

"The new kid Demyx likes." Said Marluxia.

"Oh, well, I do. But I need to know about Rose. You said she likes me and Roxas, right?"

Marluxia started to look weary of Axel. "Yes...what are you planning this time?"

Axel grinned. "She's going to help me get five hundred dollars."

WITH XION

_There he is, _Xion thought to herself, _just as happy as could be with Marluxia. Probably talking about the next girl he could trick into bed..._

Xion had just gotten to the new high school. She had first period off so she ended up walking to school, the entire time thinking about the many ways she could go about killing Axel. Just thinking about it made her want to vomit and throw something at the same time.

It was safe to say she was pissed beyond all recognition when Axel came out of her bathroom, dripping wet from his shower, to tell her she could become a great porn star if she wanted to. At first she didn't understand and then he waltzed over to her dressed and pulled out a tiny hidden camera and smiled at her look of horror at it. He then put on his clothes and dug through his wallet. He plucked twenty dollars from it and threw it at her, saying it was great and left without another word.

She was shaking and before she realized she had moved at all she was in front of a shocked Axel and scared looking Marluxia.

She stood there, fuming and glaring at him while his gaping mouth quickly transformed into the smirk she used to love but now hated.

"What can I help you with, Xion?" Axel asked smugly.

"You ass...you fucking asshole! Do you realize how close I am to picking something up and hitting you over the head with it?" She inched closer to him as she spoke.

"Aww, c'mon, Xion. You take things too personally." Axel teased.

"'Too personally'?" She hissed. "'Too personally'?! You tricked me into bed with you, _video-taped it_, and then threw twenty dollars at me and called it a day! Don't tell me I'm taking it 'too personally'!"

Marluxia turned to Axel in shock. "You what?"

Axel rolled his eyes. "Don't look at me like that, Marluxia. You know I'm not one for lectures. And you," He turned to Xion who was still glaring daggers at him. "You **asked** for it. You practically **begged** for it! You should've known what you were getting into. It's not my fault you were in such a hurry to spread your legs for me." He said arrogantly.

Her eyes widened then she straightened herself up and smirked at him. She exhaled loudly and looked around the room.

"See? You know I'm right. Like I keep telling everyone, no one can resist this."

"Great, no on around to see." Xion whispered to herself.

"No one around to see what, my little porn star? You wanna do it again?" Axel asked, smirking at her.

Xion looked at him in disgust. "No, idiot. To see this." She said as she clenched her first and uppercut him so that it connected with his chin causing him to lean so far back his chair to be knocked backward and him along with it.

She smiled at the satisfying crash it made when he hit the tile floor. "Maybe next time you'll think before you fuck someone." She said to him as she strode out of the café and couldn't help but laugh a little when Marluxia said to Axel, "You know, you really ought to keep it in your pants sometimes, Axel."

Now, if she was lucky, which lately wasn't the case, Axel and Marluxia wouldn't tell anyone what happened. If they did she'd likely get suspended and she didn't think that her brother would appreciate that seen as how he's pressing her to get into a good college and what college wants someone who's been causing havoc in school since 3rd grade?

Now to do something she's been wanting to do ever since Axel did that to her. Apologize to Namine.

When Axel did all those things to her, she realized Namine told her the truth. And she felt so bad for telling her off, calling her a liar and saying she was just jealous that she had Axel and Namine didn't. Now, she knew, that was so not the case. Namine had been trying to warn her about Axel. And she didn't listen, and she should have.

As she was walking down the Social Studies hallway she scanned the rooms for Namine. Eventually she found her in Ms. Paine's classroom. She quickly darted behind some lockers once she found her and decided to wait there until her class was done.

Xion glanced up at a clock perched upon the wall above the lockers across from her. Great, the class had another 45 minutes. Sighing she pressed herself against the wall and slowly slid down until she hit the floor. She might as well get comfortable if she was going to be there that long.

While she was sitting there she thought about what she would say to Namine. If she would listen to her at all, that is. Xion heard that she hadn't spoken a word since Xion told her to go away to put it lightly.

She closed her eyes and banged her head against the wall. Considering it was brick she probably hurt her head more than the wall but she barely felt it because she was going over what she was going to say to Namine. She knew the first thing that had to come out of her mouth was, "I'm sorry." Otherwise Namine would probably assume she was just there and ignore her like she did everything else. After her apology she was stuck with what she would say to her.

Hopefully, whatever came out of her mouth would be enough. Hopefully, Namine would be able to see how sorry she was, and Xion hoped they could at least talk to each other. Maybe even become friends eventually. But first, she had to give that apology she waited a week to give.

WITH KAIRI

As she watched her sister walk out the bathroom door she suddenly grew livid. She knew it had **something** to do with Axel. She also knew that even though Axel dumped her two months ago, she wouldn't be getting over it any time soon. She hated seeing her sister upset. She hated seeing any of her friends that upset but she hated even more when it was family.

She sighed to herself and stalked out of the bathroom and watched as her sister walked down to her next class.

Not once did she see Namine talk to anyone along the way or even look at anyone. Namine hasn't said a word in a while. It's like after Axel she went mute.

She couldn't figure out why. She was talking just fine during summer vacation. But one day when she came home she didn't say a word. It was so sudden that Kairi or their parents didn't think to place Axel as the blame but whenever he was mentioned she would flinch and her eyes would start to water.

Their parents wanted to send Namine to a shrink to deal with her problems but Kairi convinced them not to. She told them that it would make things worse and not better, if Namine wouldn't even talk to them, her **family**, then she sure as hell wouldn't talk to a complete stranger about it. Eventually they dropped the shrink idea but they said that as soon as Namine started breaking down suddenly again, then they would send her to a counselor.

And now, Namine was breaking down again. Kairi wasn't going to tell their parents but she hoped Namine would have enough common sense to hide it from them.

"Hey!" Someone yelled at her from behind.

She turned around and was greeted by a very disgruntled vice principal.

"Get to class!" She barked at Kairi.

"Sorry!" She said and ran off towards the basement for math.

She arrived at the classroom door, walked in and moved quickly but quietly to the empty desk next to Sora in the back of the classroom, trying her best to arrive un-noticed. But Mr. Auron wasn't one to not notice something.

"Glad you decided to grace us with your presence, Kairi." He said.

She winced and turned from her desk and looked at him. "Sorry, Mr. Auron. It won't happen again." She promised.

He shook his head. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

She nodded her head at him and sat down. She bent down to get her bag but found herself grasping air.

"Aww, great. Just great." She groaned to herself.

"What?" Sora asked, leaning towards her.

"I forgot my bag by the office. All of my stuff is in there. I don't have a single thing with me. I'm screwed if he expects us to do anything in class." She complained.

"Something you two would like to share with the class, Kairi?" Mr. Auron asked.

Kairi looked up at him. "No." She replied.

"Then quit talking. If you're going to pass Pre-Calculus then I suggest you pay attention." He told her and turned to address the class once again.

"He always picks on me." She muttered to herself as she leaned her head down and tried to pay attention to the teacher.

"Well, maybe it's because I'm so much more cuter than you that he can't bear to scold me." Sora teased her quietly.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You wish."

He smiled at her and began scribbling on a piece of his notebook paper.

After a few seconds passed he threw it at her and she glanced at it, wincing at his horrible handwriting.

**Why were you late? You're never late.**

She sighed and looked at him. 'I don't have a pencil!' She mouthed to him.

He smiled again and threw his pencil at her. She barely caught it from hitting Demyx in the head. "Idiot." She muttered.

She began scribbling down her response.

Namine was having trouble again. I had to calm her down before she went to class. She was a mess.

She threw the paper back at him and pretended to pay attention to what Mr. Auron was saying.

When she received the paper again she read it.

**Is she okay?**

Kairi smiled at it. Sora could be so caring sometimes. Even if he was more naïve than her five year old cousin, Selphie.

She's fine. 

**Why was she so upset?**

Axel. That's the only reason she cries anymore.

**Has she started talking yet?**

No. She only cries or ignores people. 

**I'm sorry this happened to her. Anything I can do?**

No, Sora. I can handle this. Thank you for asking, though.

**Anytime. I love you.**

Love you too, Sora. Muah.

She threw it back at him, along with his pencil and watched as his smile grew. He was so nice about everything that went on. He never got mad at anything. She loved him so much.

She heard footsteps to them and watched as Sora quickly stuffed their note in his pocket and acted like he was taking notes.

"Hand me the note, Sora." Mr. Auron said as he held out his hand to him.

Sora looked up and looked innocent. Too innocent. "What note? You mean my class notes?"

Mr. Auron sighed. "You know what note I'm talking about. Don't play dumb with me. Give it to me."

She heard Demyx snort and try to cover up the laughing that followed by muffling it with his hand but he wasn't fooling anyone.

"What do you find so funny, Demyx?" The teacher asked him.

"N-Nothing, Mr. Auron." Demyx replied, trying to prevent anymore laughing to slip out of him.

"I thought not. Now," he turned to Sora and Kairi who tried their best to remain looking innocent. "If I you two doing anything else that you are not **supposed **to be doing, I'll have you both meet me after school and you won't be sitting next to each other anymore. Am I clear?" He asked.

Sora's eyes got wide as he responded, "Yes, Mr. Auron."

"Yes, Mr. Auron." Kairi repeated so that he would leave her alone.

Sora turned to her and mouthed, 'Sorry.'

Kairi shook her head at him, mouthing, and 'It's okay.'

They both turned to the teacher and what he was writing on the white board and Kairi just soaked it all in, seeing as how she wasn't able to take notes.

She tried to concentrate on what he was saying but she kept thinking about her sister. She really hoped Namine would eventually talk to her about Axel and what happened. She hoped that eventually she would be herself again.

If she didn't she knew Axel would hear more from her later on. Right now, she needed to concentrate on helping her sister and not imagining Axel torn to pieces. For his sake, he better hope she got better.

**A/N: I'm so, so sorry this hasn't been update in a while. My computer got wiped and it took ages to get it back. But, any who...This chapter wasn't supposed to be so Namine centric, it just kind of ended up that way. I'm really glad you guys got to see a little bit more of Xion and Kairi's thoughts on the whole matter. And no one knows about Xion yet. Only those who Axel told know about it. Next chapter is going to have Riku in it, and some more Xion. And you guys will get to see a little bit more concerning Roxas and Axel's relationship. Hopefully, this chapter didn't disappoint you guys! Reviews are loved the most!**

**~DarkAngelGrl22567**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey, guys, I'm back! I've been wanting to do this chapter sooo much because TONS of things happen during this chapter. More characters are introduced and their relationships with the others. I hope this chapter is fitted to your liking! R&R! :)**

WITH RIKU

Riku was sitting in the back of his senior English classroom listening to Mrs. Yuna just talking about how they are going to overview what they remember from last year.

He was anxiously bent over a piece of paper and his pencil was moving furiously over it. It was the first day of school, first period, and it was extremely hot and the windows were open and the fan was going. Yet the kids were folding up pieces of paper and making paper fans out of them. Riku would've too but he was too busy writing his paper out.

His friends still tease him about how he's a school and work-a-holic. He never really stops either doing school work or doing work-work. He was the manager at one of the cities Burger King's. So, he knew pretty soon, people would start applying and that would mean less time for him to get his school work done. So, he had to get it done now or else he wouldn't have time later.

The paper was about what he did over the summer. It wasn't going to be very long because he didn't really do anything interesting. All he did was go to Leon's summer party and back-to-school party, hang out with Sora, Kairi, Namine, and Seifer, occasionally Cloud and Leon would join them, go to Xion's house sometimes and work. So, he sadly admitted he didn't really have that much of a life.

Eventually his paper was about three pages long, front-to-back, and when he passed it in just before class ended Mrs. Yuna gave him a warm smile and asked, "What's your name?"

"Riku, Miss." He said. He couldn't help the formality. He wasn't generally a rude person so that was the only way he could think of to address her.

Her smile grew wider. "Well, Riku, you can call me Mrs. Yuna. How do you like your first day?"

"It's...definitely new. Is there another assignment for today?" He asked. He wanted to make sure that he was all done for work for that class.

She shook her head. "Nope. Only this. Thank you for turning it in so quickly, Riku. Do you do this often, or is it just because it's the first day?"

He wasn't generally this talkative with teachers. He didn't like converse with them for very long, or people would start thinking he was a suck-up. He wasn't, he was just being nice. But, now he wished she would just leave him alone and let him get back to his seat.

"Your welcome. And no, I like to get my work done early so I don't have to worry about it later." He replied.

"Well, that's good. It's about time I got a student so dedicated to his work. You can go back to your seat now and wait for the bell."

He nodded and went back to his seat silently.

It was about five minutes of him putting his stuff into his blue backpack and then just sitting there, when the bell finally rang.

He walked calmly out the door and walked to the first set of stairs he could find. He went down them and found himself face to face with Xion talking a very sad-looking Namine and Roxas and Seifer waiting on the side-lines for them.

He went over to Seifer and Roxas and asked, "What's going on?"

Seifer shrugged and Roxas replied, "Xion said she wanted to talk to Namine alone. I don't know what it's about but Xion looked really upset."

Riku looked at Xion with concern and then glanced at Namine who just looked like she was robot, doing what she was programmed to do. Then he re-averted his attention to Xion.

She did look really upset, and it looked like she was pleading with Namine. That surprised Riku. Xion **never** begged for anything. She never even says please at all. So he can't imagine what made her change for Namine...

Riku stood there with Seifer and Roxas as they waited for the girls to get done talking. Well, for Xion to get done talking. Riku noticed that Namine still wasn't saying a word to anyone; she just either nodded or shook her head. She even smiled once, but it too brief for Riku to actually believe he'd seen it.

Eventually they saw Xion ask something and Namine nodded to and smiled again. Apparently it went well.

Riku watched as Xion left and wanted to follow her and ask her what she said to Namine but Namine approached the group and Seifer immediately started asking her what Xion wanted.

Riku didn't like the way that Seifer seemed to hate Xion. They barely spoke to each other, they certainly weren't friends but they didn't have a problem with each other the last time Riku had spoken to both of them. Now, apparently, Seifer hated Xion the same way he hated Axel.

He wondered why Seifer even bothered to ask Namine what they talked about. It wasn't like she was going to tell them anything. Yet, he tried again and again as they walked to the cafeteria for break what she and Xion talked about. The entire time Namine just smiled and shook her head, still not saying a word. It kind of bugged Riku but not enough to ask her about it.

As they approached the café they saw Axel and his friends at their usual table with Axel holding a paper towel to his nose. Apparently he had a nose bleed or something, because the paper towel was almost completely soaked with blood. Riku had to hold in a smirk.

To him, Axel deserved no less, perhaps more. He hated Axel. Axel was the one person who he could not tolerate. And it wasn't just because of what he did to Namine, although that was reason enough, but it more so about his overly cocky attitude and thinking he rules the world. That was the one time when he hoped someone got hurt, seriously hurt.

They sat themselves down and Riku noticed how Namine situated herself as far away from Axel as the table would let her. So she was still taking it hard was she? He couldn't blame her but he assumed that she would be over it by now, he never imagined Namine as the over dramatic type.

Roxas got up from the table saying that he was going to get something from the vending machine and He started to hear what the 'Organization' was saying.

"I'm gonna kill her! Look at me!" Axel protested which made Riku snort from trying to keep the laughter from being heard. "She ruined my face! Just you wait, I'll get her back." He told them, his voice distorted a bit from holding the paper towel tight against his nose.

"Well," Saix started, "I think that was her getting back at **you**."

Now, Riku was extremely confused. The only person that Riku could think of that would want to get back at Axel would be Namine. He also thought that Namine wasn't in any shape to go around punching people so he started wondering who punched Axel.

"Yeah, well, little miss Xion is gonna get a piece of my mind if I see her face again." Axel growled.

Riku's body visible froze; his eyes grew wide as he clenched his fists.

_Xion _did that? _Xion _punched Axel? Riku didn't believe it, but that way Axel and Saix were talking, it was true.

Riku knew Xion wasn't really one to talk things out, she liked to yell and scream and even throw things at people if she was pissed enough, but he'd **never** seen or heard of her actually hitting someone, let alone Axel.

He must have done something to her. Something very, very bad. Riku had to find out what.

But how he was going to get it out of Xion was a mystery to him. She wasn't exactly the share-and-care type. But he had a few tricks up his sleeve, and he planned on using them as soon as he could.

WITH SEIFER

As Seifer watched Axel complain about his bloody nose he couldn't help but smirk at him. Serves him right. He knew that Namine hadn't been the one who hit him but he would have to thank the one who did.

He would've loved to punch the red-head himself but he didn't want to get his hands dirty and he knew Namine wouldn't be pleased with him.

He sighed as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Namine had changed him so much the past two years. He used to beat anyone and everyone until they cried and were bleeding if they so much as glanced at him. He never stopped to ask questions, he let his fists (and sometimes his shoe) do the talking. But when Seifer and Namine were put together for a science project in his sophomore year he tended to be a little less violent.

He couldn't help but chuckle a bit, remembering the last time he had actually hit someone in a long time.

It was a couple of days after he had beat the kid and he thought Namine would never find out about it, when Namine showed up at his apartment looking meaner than she ever had before. She didn't even wait for him to invite her in, she just stormed in and when he closed the door, started in on him about beating that kid who made fun of her drawings.

Seifer had told her about why he did it, she didn't care though. She kept going on about how it was wrong and he shouldn't have done it. He couldn't help but laugh at her when she said that if he did it again he would be sorry. But when Namine gave him a look that he could've sworn shrunk him about two inches, Seifer had gulped a bit and nodded, saying he wouldn't do it again.

And so, he kept his promise to her, he didn't even touch Axel when he had heard about what he did to Namine. Seifer wanted to so bad, but he remembered how upset she was last year and decided against it. But it wasn't like Axel got away with anything.

He heard about what Leon did to Axel after he heard about the whole ordeal. Seifer was more than pleased when Leon told him exactly what he did to the bastard. He wouldn't tell Namine that he would've done worse to Axel himself, which he would keep to himself.

He wished he had, though.

He opened his eyes and glanced at Namine.

She still wore that blank face she had been for two months. It sickened him. He wanted to beat the pulp out of the person responsible so that maybe Namine would yell at him again.

He would give anything for her to yell at him again. Even just a 'stop' would be nice, or even a smile. He didn't think she's smiled since she stopped talking either. It was starting to worry him.

He leaned forward towards Roxas who was picking apart a bagel he had in his foam tray.

"So, who do you think gave Axel the bloody nose?" Seifer asked.

Roxas shrugged, still tearing apart the plain bagel piece by piece. Seifer shook his head at him. The kid could be so emo sometimes.

"Are you seriously _worried _about Axel?" Seifer asked incredulously, "Because you know he deserved it, right? He **did.**"

Roxas nodded. "Yeah, I know. But still..." His sentence drifted as he threw Axel an anxious look who was oblivious to it.

"Roxas! You can't honestly feel **bad** for him!" Seifer said, side-glancing Namine to see if she heard any of this. She didn't show any signs of having heard anything but that didn't mean she didn't.

Roxas looked at him with an I-can't-help-it look. Seifer sighed and glanced at Axel again.

He was still complaining about it. Seifer couldn't hear what he, Saix, Marluxia, and Demyx were saying, but he wished he could. He _really_ wanted to know who punched him.

He heard the bell ring overhead, signaling to everyone that their break was over and 2nd period would start in a couple minutes.

Before he could say anything more he watched as Roxas quickly got up and practically ran to Axel who looked a little more than smug at Roxas' obvious concern.

"It doesn't matter how much you try to drill into him that Axel isn't a good friend to him, he's just going to keep following him like a lost puppy." Riku told him.

"Yeah, I know. I just can't help it, he's my best friend," Seifer started as he, Riku, and Namine got up to go to their next class. "Well, they both used to be my best friends but Axel turned into a royal ass and – Bye, Namine!" Seifer waved at Namine as she headed to a set of stairs and started running up them. She stopped as she approached the top set and leaned over the bar and gave them a small wave and sprinted back up the stairs.

"Wow, she actually waved that time." Riku said, sounding shocked but pleased at the same time. "I'm glad she did, though. It was driving Kairi insane."

Seifer nodded, but didn't say anything else. He wondered why Namine waved to them, finally. Did it have something to do with what Xion said to her earlier after Government?

"But anyway, you were saying?" Riku said as they rounded the corner, headed to Photography.

"I was saying that Axel and I _used_ to be best friends but he turned 'asshole' and now he's got Roxas wrapped around his little finger." He fumed at Riku. "It really pisses me off."

"I wonder how Sora feels about all of this..." Riku contemplated.

They arrived at their class and the chairs were all taken so they decided to head to the left side of the classroom and lean against the wall to wait for the teacher to get there.

Seifer shrugged in response. "I dunno. He's never said to a word to me. You?"

Riku nodded. "Once. He just said that Roxas is on the phone or hanging out with him at Axel and Demyx's apartment. Apparently Namine was pretty pissed about it. He wouldn't say why though."

Seifer knew why though. Roxas was like Namine's brother, almost as close as Leon was with her. Namine was a quiet girl. Until she thought someone she cared about was in trouble, then she went on rampages all around. He could've sworn that she was either bipolar or had a personality disorder when she was a freshman.

Eventually the teacher came in and barked at them to quiet down and listen up. As Seifer did as he was told he couldn't help it when his thoughts drifted to Namine again. Man, he was beginning be a sap.

WITH DEMYX

He was in his 2nd period class, Physics, his only AP class. He was thinking about a couple of things.

One; Axel's bloody nose. Axel was his best friend and his roommate, but he had to agree with Saix at the moment. He sort of deserved the punch. But then again, Demyx supported Axel, too. He was really torn.

Two; Zexion. He had last class with him and they had talked for a bit. Demyx's heart was still racing afterwards as he silently thanked his new teacher for setting them both up for an English project. They had to recite a scene from 'Hamlet'. He about jumped in the air from joy when the teacher announced it. The only problem was why in the world was a 14 (almost 15) boy in a _senior_ English classroom? Demyx could only conclude that Zexion had to be mega-smart to be able to do that. Maybe he skipped a couple grades.

He just kept running it over and over in his head their conversation in the class.

How Zexion loved Shakespeare and could recite almost every line to every play already. How he was a Scorpio but acted nothing like one. His favorite color was deep blue and his favorite time of day was dusk.

They didn't really talk about Demyx a whole lot. Mostly about Zexion, what his liked and dis-likes were. He seemed like the perfect person to him. Demyx could practically _hear_ himself falling for him. He couldn't help when he stared and noticed how Zexion wore his hair in his face but you could still the steel-blue eyes underneath all of those bangs.

"Demyx!" Someone yelled at him from across the room.

Demyx jumped, not expecting such a loud noise in the once quiet science room.

"I would be _ecstatic_ if you would just _once __**try**_ to pay attention in my classroom." The teacher scolded.

Demyx's face turned beet-red. "Sorry, Mr. Vexen."

"You should be. Now...who wants to see if this water bottle will stay on this wooden platform while I spin it?" Mr. Vexen said, his face growing into a wide smile that made his already creepy face even creepier.

Demyx barely heard the class groan in unison before commencing his daydreaming once again.

WITH LEON AND CLOUD

"Hey," Cloud asked Leon. "Why does it seem to me that you're not enjoying senior year as much as you should?"

They were in the café' for 'study hall' but the sub didn't really make them do anything so half the class was absent, roaming the halls, while the ones who remained just did whatever they wanted.

Leon shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it just feels the same to me, I guess."

"Uh-huh." Said Cloud, not buying it for a second. "Right."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Yuffie, now would it?" Cloud asked slyly.

Leon visibly blushed and looked away. "N-No."

Cloud smirked, knowing he found out what was bugging Leon. "Sure, it doesn't," He began, "Did sometimes happen between you two at the party?"

"No...Maybe...Kinda...Yeah." Leon said.

"Thought so. Sooo? What happened? Are you guys dating?" Cloud asked Leon.

Leon looked at Cloud with his eyebrows pulled down in confusion. "Do you even realize how much of a girl you sound like right now?"

Cloud brushed it off. "It's Aerith. She's rubbing off on me."

Leon chuckled a bit. "I see. Well, maybe she'll get you to wear pink now, and trade in your motorcycle for nice pink hybrid."

He laughed even more when Cloud shot him a death glare. "Ha, ha. But you still didn't answer my question. Are you dating Yuffie or not?"

Leon's laugh quickly faded and his face became a look of guilt. He could see how confused Cloud was to his sudden change of mood. But he would know why soon enough.

"Might as well be." He muttered.

"_Why_?" Cloud asked in a knowing tone of voice. "Don't tell me you..."

"Yeah."

"Leon!" Cloud started but Leon cut him off.

"I know, I know! It shouldn't have happened, but it just _did_. It's not like I _planned_ it or anything. We were talking and we both a bit too much to drink and the next thing I know, Aerith was waking us up, saying Yuffie's parents were there and looking for her."

"_Aerith_ knew about this? Why didn't she tell me?"

Leon shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Yuffie asked her not to." He suggested.

"Maybe..." Cloud murmured to himself.

"But, on a happy note. Axel got himself another bloody nose today." Leon said as he took a swig of his two liter bottle of Pepsi in one hand.

"Why did you hit him _this_ time?" The blond groaned.

Leon feigned shock. "Why do you always assume it's me who hits people?"

"Because it usually **is** you." Cloud told him.

Leon raised his two liter at him, as if it was a toast. "True."

"So? What did he do this time?"

"I don't know. I wasn't the one who hit him." Leon said simply as he chugged down more of his Pepsi.

Cloud look at him in surprise. "Really? You didn't touch him at all?"

"Nope." Leon made a 'pop' on the p.

"Huh...So who did?"

"Xion."

Cloud again looked at Leon in shock. "Xion? I thought they were going out."

Leon shrugged. "Not now, I guess. Apparently he must've pissed her off pretty well; she's in with the 'VP' right now."

Cloud scoffed. "She'll get off. Everyone's been wanting to hit Axel lately. Even the teachers. You would think he would stop being an idiot and get some morals already so maybe he can live through high school."

"You would think." Leon growled.

The bell rang again directly over Leon's head and Cloud laughed as Leon jumped and almost fell out of his chair.

"Not funny, Cloud. Shut up." Leon said menacingly.

"Sure, it wasn't." Cloud said, still slightly chuckling.

"Y'know? I'm getting real tired of you contradicting me all the time." Leon complained as he moved across the room and sat down at his homeroom table.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Well, I gotta go because my homeroom is across the school and Ms. Paine doesn't appreciate late passes. I'll see you later." Cloud said as he went out of the cafeteria and almost ran in the direction of the Social Studies hallway.

Leon took another quick drink from his bottle before realizing it was all gone. He groaned and got up threw it in the trash. He wasn't one to recycle.

He sat back down at his table and said hi to Riku who joined him. They didn't really talk much but they mostly said random things about not enjoying the first day. But eventually they fell into a very long silence because neither guy was a talker. They mostly liked to observe and say something when they felt the need. They were alike in most ways except the fact that Leon liked to solve his problems with violence and Riku obviously did not.

Leon knew Riku hated violence. He once told him he thought it was a waste of time and effort and he would rather solve things like an adult, since they were almost in the real world now. Leon just ignored that and continued with his own way of solving things, threatening people and when that didn't work do what he threatened to do.

But this time he wasn't the one who was throwing punches and it was a relief to know he wasn't the one sitting in the vice principals office getting another lecture of how violence was wrong and there are other ways to solve your problems. He wanted to find out what Axel did to Xion that made her so mad. He knew Riku would want to know seen as how he was obviously smitten with the girl.

He would find out why she punched Axel and maybe in the process help Riku tell her how he felt.

He inwardly groaned because he reminded himself of Aerith and Yuffie when they wanted to get Sora and Kairi together (which they did). He thought Cloud was bad...he's just as bad.

**A/N: Hey! Third chapter is FINALLY done! Yay! I wanted to shine some light on the other characters I have in this story and I hope you liked it! I know Cloud and Leon may seem a lot OOC but it's purely because they hang out with Aerith and Yuffie too much, as they mentioned. (I'll have to speak to them about that) But anyway, I hope you liked this new chapter and are pleased with where I'm going with the story.**

**READ (which you have done.) AND REVIEW! (Which I hope you plan on doing right now.)**

**~DarkAngelGrl22567**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hi, guys! I'm back! -crowd cheers- Thank you, thank you! **

**Anyway, we are at chapter 4! Yay! We'll see more insight to Roxas (My favorite character in this story) and some others you already know about. :) And I desperately need to introduce MORE characters. (There are about 30 in this story all together!) So, that eventually this story can REALLY get going! I'm so excited for when that happens! Alrighty...on with the chapter! **

WITH ROXAS

Roxas sighed as he collapsed on his bed after biking all the way home from the school. (He lived two miles away.)

The first day at school had been more hectic than all of his other 'first days' combined.

He was torn between defending Namine and staying friends with Axel. It was getting harder and harder to do because Seifer, Riku, Kairi, Leon, and even Saix thought he should kick Axel to the curb after he knew what he did to Namine.

They just didn't understand that he **couldn't.** He and Axel had been friends for a long time, and even though he knew that he **should** forget about Axel, he couldn't. And he tried, oh, boy, did he try.

Roxas tried ignoring Axel for at least a month after he 'accidentally' left him at Leon's summer party. Eventually he had to call Sora to come get him and his brother wasn't too happy to be woken up in the middle of the night to get him. Axel had said that he thought Roxas had a ride home, and that he was sorry. But that didn't change the fact that he was outside in the **pouring** ice-cold rain for an hour.

He gritted his teeth remembering Sora apologizing about taking so long, saying that he had to 'fix his hair'. Roxas just figured that Sora fell back asleep and suddenly remembered his brother outside, in the cold.

Anyway, Roxas decided to ignore Axel as 'punishment' for a month, maybe longer. That didn't quite work out like he thought it would.

Axel called **every**day. He repeatedly coming over and asking for him, Roxas' parents got ticked and told him Roxas would talk to him when he was ready. And when those didn't work, he badgered him when they shared shifts at GameStop. All of that lasted a week. That one week was the worst week Roxas ever had to endure. Eventually, Axel called again and Roxas couldn't help but answer.

They talked for two hours. It was mostly Axel apologizing and promising it wouldn't happen again. It didn't matter to Roxas.

Axel was his best friend. They shared everything together. At least...they used to. Now, he's always caught up in the 'Organization' he and the others had going since the last two weeks of school last year.

It bothered Roxas a lot that Axel would rather hang out with people he just met rather than his best friends, who have known him since middle school.

His cell phone vibrated in his pocket causing him to jump and fall off his bed.

He fumbled for his phone while he was still on the floor and flipped it open quickly while propping his elbows on the edge of the bed.

"Hello?" He greeted.

"Hey, Roxas! It's Axel!"

Roxas smiled and stood up and sat himself on his bed. "Hi, Axel. What's up?"

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out at the park or something." Axel suggested, hope ringing in his tone making Roxas' smile even bigger.

"Sure, hang on, I'll ask my dad." Roxas replied, while leaping off the bed and went down stairs to the living room where his parents were.

He positioned the phone so that the bottom was facing away from his mouth, but if Axel spoke he could still hear him.

"Hey, Dad?" Roxas said, gaining the attention of his father. "Can I go to the park to hang out with Axel?"

Roxas could see his father wasn't too pleased with the fact that it was Axel, but he nodded saying he needed to be back before curfew, which was ten o'clock.

Roxas positioned his cell phone back to his mouth and told Axel.

"Great! I'll pick you up in five, okay?" Axel said.

"But, you _live_ five miles away!" Roxas cried into the phone.

He heard Axel scoff. "Yeah, and your point?"

"You'd have to be going...a hundred to get here in five minutes!"

"Actually, a hundred and ten, you forgot all those street lights I'd have to pass. But who's keeping track? I'll pick you up in five, be ready!" Axel said and hung up preventing Roxas from arguing further.

"Let me guess," Sora said, appearing in the living room/kitchen doorway, "Axel's speeding again?"

Roxas nodded and ran up stairs to his room, threw his shoes on, sprinted back down the stairs and out the door.

He counted four minutes and twenty seconds before Axel's Harley dashed into his driveway, giving Roxas a heart attack.

Axel took off his helmet and shook his hair, trying to eliminate the helmet hair he had gotten from the ride.

"Hey, Roxas! Ya ready to go?" Axel asked, smirking at Roxas' expression.

Roxas wordlessly walked down the apartment steps to Axel and stood there for a minute.

Then, suddenly, Roxas karate chopped Axel on the top of his head, muttering, "Dumbass..."

Axel mocked pain while he asked Roxas, "Why'd you do that?"

Roxas climbed on the back of the red Harley and said, "Because you could've gotten killed. You don't take life seriously."

Axel smirked as he revved the engine and started off. "I do too take it seriously; I just have more fun with it than you do."

Roxas didn't know why Axel did it, maybe to show off, or to prove his point, either way Roxas suddenly thought that he might not live to see the next school day because Axel suddenly sped up so that they were passing cars in city streets.

Noticing their speed of seventy, and the way Axel was swerving around all the cars not slowing down, Roxas threw his arms around Axel and held on tightly. He pushed his face into Axel's back and inhaled his scent.

"Are you having fun yet, Roxie?" Axel yelled back to the blonde.

"Yeah!" Roxas yelled, not mentioning that with Axel, he always had fun.

"Good!"

They rode for about two minutes until they got to the park.

Roxas hopped off the bike while Axel cut the engine and pocketed the keys.

Running to the swings, his favorite thing about the park, he admired how Axel's hair was still spiked and only slightly flat in places whereas Roxas' hair was air-blown way out of proportion.

Axel reached Roxas on the swing, trying vainly to pump himself higher but only moving a couple inches.

"Want me to push you?" Axel offered.

Roxas nodded and his skin got goose bumps when Axel's brushed his when he pushed and pulled the chain holding the swing.

Axel finally got him high enough where he could just push his back barely, he was going so high.

Roxas was swinging and watching how the ground would seem to get closer and farther away. He was thinking about what Axel said, about having fun with life. Axel's way of having fun with life is taking risks. Well, Roxas was about to take a risk.

Roxas readied himself waiting for Axel to push him again, and then pushed himself off the swing, rolling on the ground after he hit it a little harder than he thought he would. The grass _looked_ soft, the ground underneath was harder.

"Roxas!" Axel cried as he watched Roxas jump off the swing and rushed over to him. "Are you insane?!"

Roxas picked himself up off the ground and admired his grass and dirt stains on his clothes.

He looked up at Axel, smiling, "Nope. Just having fun with life."

Axel rolled his eyes at him and playfully punched his shoulder. "You idiot. No one takes me seriously, you definitely shouldn't be."

Roxas shrugged and rushed back to the swing that he jumped from. "I wanna do that again." He said as he pulled himself using the chain back onto it and started pumping his legs.

"Axel! Help me!" Roxas cried to the red-head.

Roxas watched as Axel slowly walked to him and moved to stand in back of him. He felt Axel grip the chains tightly.

He started smiling like a maniac when Axel started pushing the swing again.

"Remind me again why you're doing this." Axel said wearily as the swing started going higher and higher.

"Because," Roxas said, "I don't know. It's fun."

"Right. Because breaking your bones is sooo much fun." Axel said sarcastically.

"I won't break anything. I'm not _that_ far up." Roxas insisted.

"Whatever." Axel said as Roxas launched himself into the air again.

Roxas knew it was really stupid and pointless, but it _was_ fun. Just free-falling like that, even for a little while, was exhilarating. The adrenaline would start to kick in just before he hit the ground and rolled, causing him to want to do it more before his brain could scream, NO.

And he loved it when Axel would start to worry about him even if was just for a second. Roxas wondered if maybe that was the reason why Axel did stupid stuff all the time. Maybe he wanted people to worry about him... But Roxas quickly dismissed that thought. Axel wasn't the attention-whore type. That was Demyx's job.

As Roxas lifted himself off the ground again he decided that that was enough for now.

"Hey, Axel!" Roxas called to him. "Why don't we go to the clock tower?"

Axel smiled at him and yelled an agreement back to him.

Excited for being able to get to spend some more time with Axel he rushed to Axel's motorcycle and leaped on before Axel even got close to it. He started to get impatient watching Axel take his sweet time getting there and putting his helmet back on and started the bike.

They were back on the road in no time and Roxas didn't waste a second of it. He didn't hesitate when he grabbed Axel's torso again and held on. He buried his face deep into his back without hurting Axel, and breathed in his musky body wash, still fresh-smelling on his body from his morning shower.

"Getting comfy back there, huh, Roxas?" Axel asked him slyly.

Roxas blushed but didn't move. "Yeah..." He replied, embarrassment apparent in his tone.

"I don't mind. I was just teasing you, Roxie." Axel told him.

"Oh."

They eventually got there after Axel took his 'short cut' which caused Roxas to grip Axel tighter but he was only doing it to actually remain on the motorcycle.

They screeched to a stop in front of the clock tower and Roxas' eyes were as wide as saucers when Axel cut the engine.

"How'd you like that?" Axel asked gleefully, not noticing when Roxas didn't follow him off the bike.

"Roxas?" Axel asked concernedly.

"Yeah?" Roxas asked as he slowly got off Axel's Harley.

"Are you okay?" Axel said, slightly laughing.

"Peachy-keen." Roxas said sarcastically as he walked ahead of Axel to go to the top of the clock tower.

They made it to the top and Roxas sat down with Axel following him. Roxas noticed the sun was setting and the sky had turned a red-orange which Roxas thought was gorgeous from up there.

"Aww, c'mon, Roxas," Axel whined as he looked at Roxas, "I wasn't going that fast! I wouldn't with you with me; I wouldn't risk _anything_ with you with me."

Roxas sucked in a breath and tried not to look too much into what Axel said. Surely, it didn't mean what Roxas wanted it to mean. It just meant that Roxas was Axel's best friend and he wouldn't chance anything with him.

"I know, it's just, well, you scared the shit outta me! We almost hit Demyx and that new kid when we turned that corner! We _all _could have been killed." Roxas complained to Axel.

"Nah. We didn't even get close to 'em. If you really wanna get scared outta your wits then you should've seen it when Seifer and Leon got into a street race last summer." Axel proposed. "Those two went _at_ it! And they even tied! It was _insane_!"

Roxas shook his head. "And you liked it, right?"

Axel grinned at him letting Roxas know he was right.

"You can be such an idiot sometimes." Roxas said.

"Yup, but I'm a hot idiot, though, right?" Axel replied.

Roxas blushed and couldn't think of a good answer that couldn't be construed in a bad way.

Axel leaned in closer to him, causing Roxas to blush even more, "_Right_, Roxas?"

"Uhh, right." Roxas said, trying to get Axel to back up before he suddenly grabbed him and kissed him, like he wanted to right now.

Axel laughed. "I always knew you thought I was sexy, Roxas."

Roxas' eyes got wide and his heart started to beat faster than before.

Axel couldn't know! What is he going to do now?!

"Calm down, Roxas," Axel said, "I was just teasing. I know you're straight. Don't worry. I ain't thinking anything bad about us boys."

"Although..." Axel started again, "If you _wanted _to...I wouldn't object." Axel winked at him.

Roxas' face got hotter and hotter and he looked away from Axel. "Well...one; we're on the clock tower and two; we're best friends, Axel, and it wouldn't be right."

Axel scooted closer to Roxas causing him to scoot farther away. "C'mon, Roxas, it's just one night. It's not like anyone has to know. Or, if you want, we could say we're going out? What ever you want, I'll do. Same goes for when we're in bed." He said suggestively.

"Axel," Roxas whined, "Stop. This isn't right and I have to go home. It's getting late."

Roxas watched as Axel looked at the sky, as if he was checking to make sure Roxas wasn't lying and Axel's face fell as he discovered he wasn't. Roxas got up and moved to go down the clock tower to go to Axel's bike and heard Axel following behind him.

Roxas sighed as he opened the door and went down the stairs. He slightly wanted to take up Axel's offer but he knew it wouldn't last like he wanted it to. Axel was never the commitment type. And he probably never will be, and Roxas didn't know if he could handle it. So, he would rather remain best friends with Axel than spend on night with him and end up never speaking to him again.

He hated sounding like a girl sometimes but he couldn't really help the fact that he didn't think with his 'downstairs brain' and thought with his 'upstairs brain', unlike most of the male community in this city.

They repeated the same pattern they seemed to have going when they had to get on Axel's Harley.

Axel eventually got Roxas home and Roxas was wondering why Axel actually went only twenty above the speed limit this time around.

"Bye, Axel." Roxas said as he got off the motorcycle and walked to his stairs.

"Bye, Roxas." Axel said softly.

When Roxas got into his house he heard Axel start his engine and speed off.

"So, how did it go with Axel?" Sora asked almost immediately after Roxas entered the house.

"Fine, Sora. I'm gonna go to bed." Roxas said as he took off his shoes and slowly walked from the kitchen to the living room, then to the stairs from the living room, and went up the stairs and groaned a little when he heard his brother following him.

He silently thanked his mother for suggesting they both get their own rooms and locks for privacy. Roxas would lock Sora out if he didn't quit bugging him about Axel.

"You have to tell me more than that." Sora insisted and followed his twin into his bedroom.

"No," Roxas started, "I don't." And he shut his bedroom door in Sora's face without remorse.

After he locked his door turned on his bedside lamp before shutting off the light directly above the room, leaving the room lighted just enough so he could see where he was going. He then grabbed his CD Player and turned it on before settling into his bed and hoping to fall asleep, not caring that he was still in his clothes.

He wouldn't be going to sleep anytime soon, though.

He kept thinking about what Axel had said and what would've happened if Roxas had said yes.

Well, he knew what would 'happen' if he said yes, but he wondered about whether he and Axel would've actually been dating afterward or Axel would've started pretending Roxas didn't exist.

Roxas continued wondering about this for another two hours before he actually started falling asleep.

He would deal with Axel tomorrow at school. For now, he just wanted to sleep. He had to take a shower in the morning before school and to do that he had to get up early. He hated getting up early because that entailed less sleep, so he figure get some extra hours in and hopefully he would be well rested when he woke up.

He _really_ wanted it to be summer.

WITH AXEL

Axel rode all the way back to his and Demyx's apartment thinking about Roxas.

Why did he have to go and be himself? Couldn't he hold off on the sex talk at least when he was with Roxas? Now, he probably thought he was disgusting or something like that.

But he had to try. He wanted that money. And he wanted it bad.

When he strode into his apartment Demyx was already home and waiting for him.

"Your dinner is in the fridge." He told him when he walked in.

"Oh, thanks." He muttered before going to the fridge and looking in it for a bit, finding the Chinese food and threw some on a plate and in the microwave to heat for a couple minutes.

"How did things go with Roxas?" Demyx asked, obviously curious.

"If you're asking if anything happened the answers' 'no'." Axel told him sourly as he waited for his food.

Demyx walked over to him and leaned against the counter next to Axel. "Why not? You put your Axel charm on, right?"

"Yeah, but apparently he's immune to it." Axel sighed.

Demyx scoffed at him. "Axel, _no one_ is immune to it. Believe me. Roxas probably wanted to jump you right there, I'd bet." Demyx tried to assure him.

The microwave beeped, signaling that his food was done heating and he quickly got it out, grabbed a fork and started eating while speaking at the same time.

"Doubt it," he spoke in-between bites, "Roxas isn't gay or bi, Demyx. He more straight than Xemnas is."

Demyx pursed his lips a bit. "Anyone with the nickname 'Mansex' couldn't be straight, Axel. He's probably just hiding it."

"Right." Came Axel's muffled reply by his food.

Demyx and Axel went to sit down on the couch and watch a movie on TV. It was only a few minutes after the movie started that Axel's fork hit the glass plate.

"You're such a pig, Axel." Demyx teased as Axel got up to put the dish in the sink in the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah." Axel waved it off. "I'm beat; I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah, night." Demyx told him and Axel didn't respond. He just shut his door, stripped down to his boxer shorts and fell on his bed and almost fell asleep instantly.

A certain blond boy plagued his dreams all night.

**A/N: Oh, wow! This chapter is probably my worst yet! Gah! I wasn't initially going to make this a Roxas/Axel central chapter; it just, kinda ended up that way. Hope you guys don't mind. I really hated Axel's POV ending. It just sounds so corny! I couldn't think of another good way to end it though! Well, I hope you all liked it better than I did! Review!**

**~DarkAngelGrl22567**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Wowww! It's been almost three whole months since I've updated this story! I'm so sorry! I kinda forgot it even existed… Oops. **

**Well, hopefully, I have given you all something worth waiting three months for… Enjoy!**

**And thanks to **_xHanako_** and **_RoseRiku_ **for reviewing for the last four chapters! Thank you guys so much, and I'm really sorry it's taken me so long to update on the story!**

**Disclaimer: **** I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy or any of the characters. If I did we would be seeing a lot more Yaoi in both! ;) **

**The 'To Do' List**

**Chapter 5**

**************

NAMINE'S POV

Namine had just walked into school when Kairi and Sora ran up to her both looking worried.

Sora spoke first, breathing hard, like he had just run a marathon. "Namine, hey, look, I know you've had some harsh stuff going on with Axel but you've gotta talk to Roxas about him for me!"

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

Roxas and Axel were best friends, there was no deterring that no matter who has tried, Roxas would still continue to worship the ground Axel walked on. She thought Sora had given this up a while ago. And she was surprised that Kairi seemed to be supporting Sora with this.

Usually it was a general rule around Kairi to not bring Axel up around her, not that she agreed, it just seemed the rules with Kairi, and not many people dared to argue with her. So, this had to be extremely important for her sister to tolerate this without seeming to be at least agitated with Sora.

"Roxas and Axel hung out at the park last night." Sora began and Namine's eyes instantly turned to slits and she dropped her bag on the floor, causing a loud sound to echo in the hallways.

And while Kairi started looking over-protective again, Sora didn't seem to notice and spoke faster. "And when he came home he looked really depressed and he didn't talk to me at all! He had loud, depressing music blasting so loud the whole apartment was shaking! I think Axel did something that Roxas didn't like, and, hey! Where are you going?!" Sora yelled to her because she had taken off for the cafeteria.

She had abandoned her bag on the floor and just stalked off. She was headed to the only place Axel was in the mornings, the café.

There was no way Axel would _ever_ get to Roxas the way he got to her and Xion. Xion had told her everything and asked if they could try to be friends, she agreed, and now that Axel didn't have anyone else to play with he would move on to Roxas. Well, she wasn't about to let that happen.

She entered the biggest room in the school besides the gym and didn't take very long finding Axel and his friends sitting at the usual round plastic table they always sat at.

She took a deep breath and clenched her fists, feeling nervous for actually seeing for the first time since the incident, and preparing for possibly getting suspended very soon, because this was one of those times where the shy girl was temporarily thrown out the window to be replaced by a very pissed off blond.

She heard Kairi yelling for her behind her so she wasted no more time in approaching the arrogant red-head.

"Axel." She said, trying to appear stern, but inside she wanted to run away.

The table instantly went into hush mode as did the rest of the café.

"N-Namine." Axel said, nervously, obviously surprised she was here to begin with. "What do you want? Me to give you another fun ride later?" He said, returning back to his crude self.

Namine glared at him and leaned across the table to slap him across the face.

"You despicable human being. You are the worst person I have ever met, and I wish I had nothing to do with you." She began and she felt satisfied to see Axel frozen in the half-turned position he was in, while the rest of the table looked at her in pure shock, with the exception of Saix, he looked generally pleased with how things were going for Axel lately.

"What you did to me and Xion was horrible, how the hell do you call yourself a human when you obviously have no morals! And if I _ever_ hear you trying to do what you did to me and Xion with Roxas you will regret ever speaking to me." She said.

Axel's hear jerked around to face her. "What happens between Roxas and me doesn't concern you, you little bitch."

"The hell it doesn't!" She cried.

She was beginning to shock herself into submission. She never got angry, really truly angry with anyone. And she wasn't generally aggressive at all but that was beginning to change apparently.

"Namine!" Kairi yelled from behind and came up behind and gasped at the red mark on Axel's cheek.

Kairi looked from Namine to Axel to Namine again, and started smiling just like Saix and pulled up a chair and sat down to watch. Namine guessed that Kairi was glad that her sister was finally standing up for herself.

"If I want to date Roxas then I don't really see how you can stop us. Just because I'm getting friendly with him, it doesn't necessarily mean I'm gonna to do the same thing to him that I did with you." Axel said, trying to look sincere.

"Do you honestly think I believe any of that bull?" She asked incredulously.

"It's true! Roxas isn't just a bed-buddy unlike you and Xion. By the way, you make really sweet sex noises when you're all riled up." He smirked at her and she had a strong urge to hit him again.

Kairi shot up from her chair and was about to punch Axel when Sora caught her arm and pulled her behind him. Namine glared at Axel and moved so that she was about an inch from his face. "If you hurt him, I will run you over with my Volvo."

He raised his eyebrows. "Going all _Twilight_ on me are you? I thought you got over that?"

She rolled her eyes at him and stood up straight. "Please, it's nowhere near a good car. It was made in 2001 for Pete's sake." She said before striding off.

She went back to the area where she dropped her backpack only to discover it was gone.

"Great. Just great." She sighed to herself.

"What?" Kairi asked innocently holding her backpack in front of her when Namine turned around.

She smiled at her twin. "Thanks, Kairi."

Kairi beamed back and they started walking down the hallway with Sora holding Kairi's hand on her other side. "No problem and I noticed you started speaking again. Maybe we should tell you Roxas is in trouble more often." The auburn-haired girl suggested.

She shook her head at her. "Nice. Threaten the physical well-being of your boyfriend's brother… Real cute, Kairi."

Kairi smiled widely at her. "I know, aren't I?"

Namine scoffed.

"Hey, Nom-Nom!" Someone cried at her from behind.

She stopped and didn't bother looking behind her. "Hello, Seifer."

He walked out from behind her and playfully pouted in front of her. "How'd you know it was me?"

She sighed. "Because you're the only one who still calls me that ridiculous name." She said while beginning to walk again.

"Um, Namine?" Kairi said sheepishly, while Sora was kissing her neck and seeming to tug her away from them. "We have to go."

Namine curled her lip up in disgust. They never really _stop_ being all lovey-dovey, do they? "Whatever, just, hide better this time, guys, okay?" She said.

They both nodded quickly and ran off.

She looked at Seifer who was looking like Barney the dinosaur had hugged him and asked him what his favorite color was.

"Ummm," he began, "Gross."

She laughed at him and started walking again. He quickly fell into step with her.

"You'll get used to it; at least you don't have to live with it on occasion." Namine said.

"Yeah, I seriously feel bad for you and Roxas, having to live with that must get annoying once in a while."

She snorted.

Every time Sora came over their parents left the house claiming they had shopping to do and Namine had said she was going to the park, which was true, she drew a lot those days… And she came back to her house to find Kairi washing her sheets and blankets and one pillow, claiming they got it dirty from food, but Namine knew better. Although, she wished she was stupid like she thought her mother was. The woman had no brain, she assumed she got her common sense from her father, although, he really needed to start acting more like a father instead of a friend, and not letting Kairi and her boyfriend have sex whenever they want to.

"True, true." Seifer said.

They walked over to a long wooden bench, set in front of a row if windows with a door to their left and a staircase to their right. They set their bags down and just talked the rest of the time.

Namine missed talking with people, but she didn't really think she could without someone mentioning Axel which would cause her to tense up and just leave them there, but with Seifer she didn't really feel any of that. And it also helps that she practically yelled at Axel earlier, so she was pretty sure she was over what Axel did to her, well, not completely, but she wasn't going to let it control her anymore.

She had just asked Seifer if he wanted to hang out with her later after school at her place when Roxas came up to them and was looking very pissed.

"What the _hell_, Namine? You slapped Axel and told him to stay away from me?" Roxas asked, his fists bunched up and clenching his jaw.

She sighed. She sort of figured Roxas would react this way, and leave it to Axel to make it look like she wants to control Roxas.

"I didn't tell him to stay away from you. I heard what happened yesterday at the park with him from Sora and I told Axel that he better do to you what he did to me. That's all I said to him." She told him.

"But you slapped him." Roxas said impatiently, crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

She nodded. "Yes, I did. But I didn't do it for you; I did it because I wanted some payback."

Roxas immediately sobered up. "Oh, well, still. I don't need you to stand up for me, Namine; I'm not a little kid."

"I know that, but I just needed to make sure you're not going to make the same mistake I did and trust Axel. He just isn't a good guy, Roxas, I'm sorry."

And she was. She wished Axel wasn't such a dick so that she didn't have to worry about whether or not Axel was going to just use Roxas too. But he _is_ a dick. And he probably _will_ use Roxas, whether the blond wants to believe it or not.

"No, he's not! He's actually nice when he's not around those jerks he calls his friends." Roxas protested.

Seifer snorted. Namine warn fully elbowed him in the ribs and looked back to Roxas who looked close to tears.

"I know, Roxas. I just don't really know if it'll be enough in the end. Just, be careful around him, that's all I'm asking." Namine pleaded.

Roxas let out a breath, seeming to calm down fully now. "Right, I will. But I honestly think he's changed, Namine. Really."

Namine crossed her arms and held her tongue, not trusting herself to say anything more as Roxas walked away.

The truth was Axel hadn't changed. He had done the same thing to Xion as he did Namine recently. She didn't want to tell Roxas because she didn't think it was her business to tell everyone what happened to Xion. If Xion wanted Roxas to know, then she'd tell him, not Namine.

"Maybe Axel has changed. I still don't like it." Seifer said, copying her position.

The bell rang above them and they set off for yet another six hours of plain waste of time. Namine hoped the rest of the year wouldn't have so much drama, but it _was_ high school. Anything can happen.

SAIX'S POV

Seeing Namine finally slap Axel was a sight Saix was extremely pleased to see.

He honestly didn't think she had it in her. She was the quiet type, but now it seemed Axel, yet again, brought the worst out of her. He tends to do that with a lot of people these days.

Still, that makes it twice someone Axel had thought he had 'burned' when actually they came back and gave him what he deserved, or at least the PG version of it.

Saix thought he ought to have been hung by his toes in the café where everyone could pretend he was a piñata. But instead of a stick, they'd use the café chairs. The image made him smile a bit.

"Hey, what're you smilin' about?" Xigbar asked.

Saix turned to him to see Xigbar looking at him curiously. "Nothing."

Demyx laughed slightly. "You? Think? Funny, Saix."

"At least I don't wear my hair in a mullet and have a shrine of David Bowie in my bedroom." Saix shot back, smiling in victory when Demyx abruptly turned pink.

"David Bowie is amazing! He's the best singer/mullet-wearer in the world!" Demyx claimed as he jumped up from his chair and dramatically stormed out of the cafeteria.

"And here I thought he had finally grown out of that by now." Luxor said playing cards with Marluxia.

Saix scoffed. "And Marluxia will stop playing 'Go Fish' with you when Xaldin and Axel have to go class."

Marluxia giggled. "Do you have any tens?"

Luxord smirked at him. "No."

Marluxia pouted and said, "Phooey." and picked up a card from the deck in between them.

"So, who else do you think is gonna come back to hit Axel next? Larxene?" Luxord asked as he collected yet another pair from Marluxia who was losing, badly.

"How much you wanna bet that instead of hitting him she jumps him from behind and dry-humps him?" Xigbar asked.

Saix shook his head in disgust. "You amaze me, but that would be torture for Axel."

"You beat me again!" Came Marluxia girl-like wail, and he picked up his flower and angrily skips out.

The entire table just stared at him as he went.

"How does he manage to look pissed when he's skipping?" Xigbar asked.

"Probably the same way Saix manages to not think of you as old." Luxord says as he's picking up the cards and putting them back in the box.

"Hey," Xigbar whines at him.

Saix grabs his hand and rubs it a bit to calm him down and it works. Xigbar just sags in his seat and props his head up with his free hand.

"I'm not old." He mutters.

"Of course your not." Saix murmurs in his ear, making sure to breathe in it slightly and watched as Xigbar got goose bumps and shivered.

It was always exciting to him the power he held over him. He was glad he was with Xigbar and not Axel or Xaldin still. Xigbar was much more fun than Xaldin was and he wasn't crude like Axel, perfect balance for him. The only thing he didn't like was when he worried too much.

It was a habit he got from having to take care of the twins' father when he was drunk, but now he's in jail.

They were in their sophomore year when their father had been convicted of molesting, raping and beating a 12 year old girl and her mother, they had to endure the media and Xaldin didn't take it very well. The older twin would get into trouble with the cops sometimes or even at school, but Xigbar eventually got that out of him and made him go to school more often and play poker with Luxord every Wednesday night. Now, it's Xaldin's life goal; to beat Luxord at poker.

So, Saix was glad that Xaldin had only been a couple weeks, so nothing major happened, and he's been dating Xigbar for almost a year now. And that was the longest he's ever been with someone, even Axel who was about seven months, but that was purely sex. He and Xigbar didn't take that certain step until they were dating for six months, and now, well, Xigbar could possibly qualify for a sex addict. Not that Saix minded, he just didn't really have the time or he just didn't want it to be all about sex like with Axel, he wanted a real relationship, and he thought Xigbar might help with that. The man was almost as sappy as Marluxia when he watches _Titanic_.

"Hey, Saix! You thinkin' again?" Xigbar asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah."

"Ummm, hi, I was wondering if you could tell us where Mr. Vexen's room is?" Someone asked from behind.

Saix turned around to see two girls, one was short, had dark-brown hair swept into a ponytail, glasses, wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, stone-wash jeans which had some rips and tears in them, and wearing two wedding rings on a chain around her neck, the other was slightly taller than the one who had spoken, had black hair which had a un-even split and swept across her forehead, and she was wearing a Blondie t-shirt with a black skirt and black boots that didn't have heels and went half-way up her calves.

"And your names are?" Luxord asked, leaning forward and looking very curious.

"I'm Tara," said that brunette, "and this is Rose." She motioned to the other girl beside who waved shyly.

"Oh, well, hello, Tara, Rose, I'm assuming your part of the group from Twilight Town?" He asked.

"Yes, we are, but do you know where Mr. Vexen's room is or not?" Asked Tara impatiently while glaring at him. She apparently didn't have any patience.

Luxord smiled wider. "Yes," he said while staring at her, "down the hall, and take a right." He said pointing her in the right direction.

"Thank you." She said when she spun around and followed Rose out the door, only looking back curiously once.

"Okay," Xigbar said, "What was _that_ about?" he asked Luxord who relaxed in his chair and was smiling.

Luxord turned to him. "What was what?"

"The thing with the Twilight Town girl. You were creepy, man."

"She was wearing a spade bracelet." He said.

Saix laughed. He had initially thought Luxord finally had taken a liking in the opposite sex, but only to discover cards was _still_ on his mind.

Xigbar looked like he wanted to slug him. He turned back to Luxord when Saix quieted down.

"Seriously, you didn't like _either_ of them? Not one?" Xigbar pushed.

Luxord glared. "I didn't say that, I just like Tara's bracelet."

"So, you _do _like her?" Xigbar asked again. He better watch himself, or Luxord might cut his throat with a card, although that would be really difficult, he'd find a way.

Luxord shrugged but didn't answer. Instead he pulled his deck of cards out and started to randomly shuffle them and started humming. Which he only did when he was in a good mood.

Saix thought that Luxord _did_ like Tara. He just didn't want to admit it.

And Saix was sure that Marluxia was talking about Rose earlier like he already was infatuated with her before even talking to her, just because her name was the same as a flower.

So, now, the only other Organization members who needed to get coupling are Xaldin, a lost cause, Axel, who, as long as that person didn't know who he really was, would be fine, and Xemnas, Saix didn't want to think about that one bit. Demyx had already

hooked up with Zexion, much to his chagrin.

It seemed like; pretty soon, the Organization would be expanding due to its original members adding to it themselves. Saix just hoped these eventual newcomers would see that they can't ever come between the original and that if they tried, they wouldn't be in this high school much longer.

**A/N: Well, I've finally finished the fifth chapter! Yay me! I hope this chapter wasn't horrible. I included the Twilight Town kids a bit they'll be more involved in later chapters. You'll get to see how the rest of the characters react to them eventually. So, you've read now you must review or I'll sic Axel on you and make him burn you alive! Well…orrrr I could have Larxene talk to you a lot…. That should be punishment enough… REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Okay, well, I didn't intend to update this so fast but I just couldn't let it go! I really want to get this story up and running and not just in the beginning! So, I'll definitely be writing more chapters hopefully, without a big gap in between them… **

**Thanks to, **_xHanako, RoseRiku, Xanjen, _**and **_ForeverYaoix3_ **for reviewing the last chapter. I know there are more readers out there, and you can anonymously review, I desperately need them! Reviews keep me going! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters besides Tara, Devon, Rose, and the other Twilight Town kids. I do, however, own the plot of this story and I will have Axel and Roxas drag you over to Marluxia's for a bit if you decide to steal anything… **** But, I know you all won't do that, because you have better things to do with your lives than steal a sixteen year old girls story…. **

**(That was a long disclaimer….sorry)**

**On with the story!**

**The To Do List**

**Chapter 6**

AXEL'S POV

What. The. Fuck! Not only does _Xion_ punch him, Miss Namine has to go and slap him in the same place where Xion punched him yesterday! What the hell is it with girls and hitting?

Axel was in the boys' bathroom during his first class, not caring whether he was late or not and vainly looking at himself in the mirror.

He was starting to heal from Xion's man-punch yesterday but now…the odds didn't look too good. The left side of his face still had a slight bruise and now it was accompanied by a red impression of Namine's hand. His face looked horrible! How the hell is he supposed to cover this up? He'll be the laughing stalk of the school by the now, two girls have now successfully beaten the shit out of his face and he hasn't done anything to them to make up for it.

"Axel?"

The red-head turned away from the mirror and was greeted by Roxas' concerned look.

"Hey, Roxas. Come to say I deserved this, too?" Axel said bitterly.

Roxas looked taken-aback. "Why would I?"

"Because you were lecturing me about it the other day, and now, well, she's gotten her payback. I don't need anyone else saying I deserved it, I know, already! I know!" Axel claimed loudly enough that it echoed through the bathroom.

Roxas glared at him a bit. "I wasn't going to say anything like that. For your information I was actually coming here to tell you that I told Namine to back off. But since your being a jerk I'll just leave you and your bruised face alone."

Roxas turned to leave, but Axel grabbed his arm to stop him. If Roxas left now, his chances of winning slimmed down measurably, and he couldn't let that happen. His brain kicked into high gear while he thought of an excuse to get him out of it…although it was partly true…

"Wait, Roxas, I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, you didn't so anything wrong. It's just-," he let his hand fall down to his side and looked at the tile floor, "I'm havin' a rough time, you know, with my parents' anniversary coming up and I can't exactly get them something, and then all this happens… I just don't really know what to do anymore."

No sooner did Axel finish what he was saying, Roxas quickly grabbed him and hugged him. This shocked Axel more than anything, but it wasn't the fact that he was hugging him; it was Axel hugging him back. He did it without even realizing what he was doing, but it felt good, it felt nice.

They parted and Roxas looked up at him, his blue eyes wide and full of the concern they held before. Axel couldn't resist the opportunity…it was staring at him right in the face. If he didn't act now, then, he could kiss that money good-bye.

He quickly grasped Roxas' face in his hands and gently pulled him up so their lips connected fully. He felt Roxas stiffen and heard his slight gasp, which excited Axel, and made him want to push further, to see what other reaction he could get out of the blond.

He moved them so that Roxas was now against the wall opposite to the mirror, and he was making it so that their bodies were practically melding together. Roxas was starting to fight him off, but Axel couldn't really let that happen, so he quickly shoved his tongue in the blonds' mouth and started grinding against him, feeling Roxas start to surrender and hearing a slight moan made him want to parade with happiness.

It was working.

Roxas seemed to throw all caution to the wind as he grabbed Axel's head and crushed his lips even further against Axel's, fully participating in the game Axel was creating. Axel's hands left Roxas' face and traveled down to his shirt, down to the hem of his pants and had just curled his fingers in when the bathroom door opened.

"OH MY GOD!"

The two sprang apart and was greeted by a highly disturbed Xigbar, looking like he was witnessing a puppy burning.

Xigbar clamped a hand over his eyes as he screamed, "What the _fuck_ guys! If you're gonna get it on do it in a stall!" As he blindly walked towards a stall and open it, walked in, locked it and screamed more at them, "Freakin' A, guys! I did _not_ want to see that early in the morning!"

Axel chuckled and yelled back, "Sorry, Xigbar, maybe you should knock first!"

"Knock?! _Knock_?! We're in school, fuckheads! I didn't think I'd be walking into pre-sex frolicking! Jesus!"

Roxas looked weary as he said, "We should probably go, Axel. Class already started."

Axel nodded and they both walked out, but not before hearing Xigbar saying, "At least put a damn _sock_ on the door for cryin' out loud! No man should have to see-," and the door cut off his raving.

"He's such a drama queen." Axel said, as they started to their class.

After that was the most uncomfortable silence Axel has ever known in his life. It sucked. They just walked down the hallway, without saying a word. Axel wasn't used to such things. It made him nervous, and he hadn't been nervous since he had lost his virginity when he was twelve, and he got over that quick enough, but this, this was killing him.

Roxas eventually stopped by a doorway, causing Axel to stop beside him.

"Umm, well, this is my next class." Roxas said, avoiding Axel's eyes which annoyed him immensely.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you later at Leon's party?" Axel suggested.

Roxas looked at him in shock. "He actually invited you?"

"Well, not really, I invited myself, but what's a back-to-school party without Axel? A boring party." Axel answered himself.

Roxas rolled his eyes at him. "Whatever just don't get beat up, okay? I don't want to have to take you to the hospital, okay?"

"Awww, is little Roxie worried about me?" Axel teased, enjoying the way Roxas seemed to squirm where he stood.

"Of course, you're my best friend," Roxas said.

_Yeah, a best friend who just about kissed your pants off a few minutes ago_.

"And I can't help it. You worry about me, so it's just a normal thing."

Axel was beginning to get irritated with Roxas' rambling. He always did this when he was trying to avoid something, like up at the tower. Roxas was rambling then too when Axel had hinted at them possibly dating. It was just an old habit of Roxas' that Axel was determined to break him of.

"Right. But back to the question. Are you coming later or what?" Axel asked, crossing his arms and trying not to show his impatience with him.

Roxas looked shocked at him but nodded anyway.

Axel smiled. "Good. I'll pick you up at seven. Make sure you tell your parents your sleeping over, you know how Leon's parties go on for – whenever people feel like leaving or Leon just get sick of us in his house."

Roxas smiled slightly and said goodbye before entering his class. Axel still heard him apologizing profusely halfway to his own class which had him smirking to himself. Roxas was always the good boy, never doing anything wrong, well; Axel would get that to change.

When he entered the classroom he could tell the teacher was a tight-ass. He was not going to get along with this teacher _at all._ He wanted to sock him once he sat down and the teacher chose then to speak to him.

"Well, Mr. Flamer, glad you decided to join us. Let's hope this is a one-time only thing, shall we?" the teacher said, before returning his attention to the class again.

He blocked out the teacher's ranting and thought about Roxas at Leon's party. It was pretty much set out that Axel would cause _something_ to happen between him and Roxas somewhere along the lines of what happened in the bathroom earlier. If it didn't happen at the party than he would make sure it did at the apartment, granted Demyx kept to him self or went over Zexion's for the night.

All Axel knew was that he needed to complete that damned list if he was going to get that money.

He just hoped he didn't lose Roxas in the process.

WITH ROXAS

What was wrong with him? Not only did Axel _kiss_ him, he kissed Axel back! And then he didn't say anything. He probably thought he was whore now or something now, just wanting a quickie but got interrupted, and thank Walt Disney that Xigbar walked in when he did, because Roxas didn't know if he would've been able to stop Axel before he ripped off his pants like he was going to. Or even if Roxas _wanted _him to stop, which he wasn't entirely sure either way.

He almost had sex in school!!! That was the biggest no-no _ever!_ The school grounds for sex were covered in full by his brother and Kairi. It seemed those two would just throw their clothes off wherever, not really caring whether it was the president's desk and he was present!

Roxas was still having trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that he kissed Axel, let alone almost did the horizontal thrust with him!

"Roxas!"

"Wah?" Roxas looked up to see his new teacher, Mr. Tidus, looking at him expectantly.

"I asked you a question young man." He said sternly.

Crap. His second day and he's already on this teacher's 'bad kid' list. He _so_ did not need this right now.

"I'm sorry, sir, could you repeat it, please?" Roxas said as politely as possible, hopefully it was enough to give the teacher a good enough impression to crush the one he'd already made.

The teacher looked slightly shocked at being called 'sir' but repeated the question.

"I asked what was Shakespeare trying to get at when he wrote 'Hamlet'?"

He had read _Hamlet_ his sophomore year because of his love for plays, but he had multiple answers to this question, but he didn't know what the teacher was trying to point at.

"I can't really answer that, sir. Shakespeare always had a lot of things he wanted shown in his plays." Roxas swallowed hard; hopefully the teacher would take that as an answer and just leave him alone.

Mr. Tidus didn't reply, just looked at him, almost examining him. It bothered Roxas a bit.

The teacher sighed and scanned the room. "Anyone else?"

Roxas let out a relieved sigh. He was free.

"Yes?"

"Never screw with a woman, or they're out for blood." Luxord said bluntly.

Mr. Tidus' face in response was hilarious, a mix of astonishment and confusion. "Y-Yes, I suppose you could say that, just please use a different choice of words next time, Luxord."

Like that would ever happen. Luxord loved two things; cards and swearing. He couldn't go a day without either.

And from Luxord's face his thoughts were in sync with Roxas', which didn't surprise the blond in the least. He hated being in a senior English, he couldn't help he was smarter than most juniors.

After making sure he wouldn't be called on again, he started thinking about the party later on. His parents would be fine with it, he went to a bunch of them last year, the only thing they won't like is the part where he basically has to stick by Axel the entire time and he was sleeping over his house.

His mom would be fine with it, but his dad would not be. He'll probably try to get him out of it, like having Roxas sleep over Axel's house, or come home with Sora (if he wasn't going over Kairi's or just stealing a extra bedroom with her). His dad never liked Axel, called him a delinquent a lot and a 'no-good-punk-that-would-be-more-apt-to-land-in-jail-than-anything-else-in-life' which ended in them having a screaming match and Axel picking him up to help him calm down.

That was one of the good things about Axel. If you were in trouble, as in serious trouble, he would be there in a few seconds ready to kill. That was one of the reasons Roxas stood up for him so much, people only see the arrogant part of him, not the rest. _Never mind that that is the only part he'll let them see anyway. _

What Roxas was really worried about was when he would be sleeping over at Axel and Demyx's apartment. If Axel wasn't worried about what they did in public or even in school he could just imagine what he would try when they were alone. And what _scared_ Roxas was that he wasn't sure he would even try to stop him, he might just go alone with it, saying, 'screw you, conscious, I'm doing what I wanna, go away' and waking up in the morning just like Namine did, humiliated.

Roxas wanted to slap himself. How could he even think Axel would do that to him? He was his best friend, and Axel had changed, he was sorry (he assumes), and he wasn't going to use anyone else like that (hopefully), so there was really nothing to worry about. Just telling his parents he's bi…that'll take some time on their part, but he was sure they'll come around.

The bell rung signaling the class was over and break was starting.

Roxas wasn't exactly ecstatic for the party but he wasn't going to be a depressed lump either. He decided to really take Axel's words at the park seriously; he would live life, not caring about the risks. Hopefully, the rest of the world agreed with him.

**A/N: Done the sixth chappie! I'm all excited now! **** I hope you all don't really mind the AxelXRoxas chappie, it was pointed out by **_RoseRiku_** that there wasn't really a whole lot of them together so I thought this chapter might help a little bit. Next chapter: Leon's party!!! Woohoo! Lotsa drama there, and then we get to see if Axel will continue being an ass or just give it up…. Hopefully, he'll do the first, but he's really stubborn… As you can see. **

**You've now read the chapter, now REVIEW! NOWWW! **

**~DarkAngelGrl22567**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Okay, well, here's the seventh chapter! On time! Gasp! Granted its eleven-forty PM so it's almost NOT on time, but I made it! You guys better love me!**

**And thanks to, **_Rose Riku, Jesus Freak, F[r]iend, Larxene 12 _**and**_, Xanjen. _**If I missed anyone, I am deeply sorry, and you should let me know in a PM and I'll put your name in the list! **

**On with the story! :D**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the songs featured in the story. I wish I owned Metallica or Alice Cooper, or Alanah Myles.... *tear*  
**

**____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
**

**The To Do List**

**Chapter Seven**

**ROXAS' POV**

The final bell rang loudly throughout the school. The content sighing of the students were heard all around as they rushed for the doors, Roxas was behind them, naturally.

He ran over to his bike, quickly un-locking it after a few failing tries and swung one leg over the seat and didn't bother watching where he was going before shooting forward. He had to get home fast so he would have enough time to get ready, and that meant a shower, throwing new clothes on, fixing his hair (which took almost an hour), and then waiting for Axel to show up. And not the mention the part where he still had to tell his parents about it. That should take about another hour…

He wasn't really paying attention the entire time he was riding through the streets. Twice he almost got ran over because he didn't watch to see if a car was coming, he just jumped the curb and crossed the street, a horn blowing and the squealing of tires alerted him to the fact that he almost died. He didn't really care though, not today.

Today he was more worried about what would happen at Axel's house, and he couldn't shake the feeling that Axel was going to try something, no matter how much he tried to tell him he wouldn't at lunch. Axel wasn't one to just kiss someone once and forget about it, he would probably see how far he could go. It made Roxas nervous to discover that he wouldn't really mind if Axel did try anything at all. Axel could probably try to have sex with him and he'd go for it. Which is awkward, he'd never really had a relationship with a guy before. He was stuck wondering what it was like, was it any different than a relationship with a girl, or just like it?

When he finally got to his house, Sora's car wasn't in the drive-way. This meant he still had at least three hours until the party started, that should be plenty of time to get ready and explain everything to his parents.

He carried his bike up the stairs leading to the door in his apartment, and locked it. He then rushed into the house throwing his shoes in a closet near the doorway and went to the living room, where he found his father sitting on the couch, drinking a beer, and watching TV. He was about to ask his father if he could go before he saw the tears.

"Dad, what's wrong?" He asked, fearing the worst.

His father's head jerked in his direction, he was obviously surprised to see him there. "What? Nothing. Nothing's wrong." He said, wiping the tears from his face and sat up straighter. "What are you doing home so early?"

"I rode my bike. And, I know something's wrong, Dad. You never cry, not even at Grams' funeral." Roxas said, walking over to his father until he stood in front of him.

"I told you, it's nothing." He protested.

"Dad, where's Mom?" Roxas asked wearily, not really wanting an answer.

"Gone." He sighed.

Roxas' heart dropped. "What do you mean, 'gone'?"

"I mean she left, Roxas! She fucking up and left gave me a hundred dollars and said 'good-luck' and took off!" He shouted.

Roxas backed up a step. She left them?

"She left you something on the table, and Sora, too."

Roxas went over to the kitchen table numbly. He saw a note taped to the surface of the table, and went over and ripped it off, reading it fast.

_Roxas, _it started,

_I know probably by now you've figured out I'm gone. Well, I'm not going to lie and say I'll regret it. I won't. Your father and I aren't meant to be, I realized that. I can't live a life that I don't want. So, I'm moving away, and I hope you can understand. I do love you and your brother, but I have to live my own life. You'll know what I'm talking about someday. _

_Love, Marcy._

Roxas suddenly wanted to rip it up and go crashing around the apartment and breaking everything. She couldn't even sign it 'Mom' it was _Marcy._

And what was the crap about him 'understanding'. How could he understand that not only did she leave Dad but she left him and Sora? She could've at least just divorced him and stayed to see them, but no, she left _all of them._

He was suddenly shaking with fury; he _really _wanted to break something now.

He stormed out of the house, trying to ignore his father's loud crying.

Before he could get out of the driveway Sora pulled up and ran out of the car, and rushed over to him.

"Roxas, what's wrong? Is it Axel?" He asked worriedly.

Roxas shook his head. He couldn't seem to form the words.

"Than what?" Sora asked, now confused.

"Look on the table, it'll explain everything." He said bitterly.

"Huh?" Sora asked, titling his head to one head innocently.

"Just go inside and look on the table!" Roxas cried at him, causing Sora to look at his shocked, but went inside anyway.

Roxas waited on the steps in front of the door for when Sora finally realized what had happened.

He heard Sora's muffled crying and his father's slight yelling. He let his head fall into his hands as he finally let what happened sink in. Their mother had abandoned them. She wasn't coming back. Ever.

Sora came running out, tears falling fast as he ran up to Roxas. "How did this happen? Were you there when she left?"

Roxas shook his head, still solemn. "No. She left me a note too. What did yours say?" The blond asked, curious to see if it said the same thing as his.

Sora sniffled a bit, and then replied, "Basically saying she wasn't happy so she left."

Roxas had to keep himself from scoffing at Sora. So the letters were alike. She didn't take the time to personalize something, just scribbled down her excuse and left their father on the couch drinking.

"How could this happen?" Sora asked his voice thick.

Roxas shrugged, trying to hold in the sobs that threatened to escape. "I don't know she's just a selfish bitch. Leave it alone, we've gotta make sure Dad doesn't drink himself to death."

He went to go into the apartment, but Sora grabbed his arm and prevented from moving any further.

"Why are you acting like that? I know you care more than you're letting on! You can't just hold it in! Look at Dad! Do you really want to end up like him?" Sora exclaimed loudly.

Roxas inhaled deeply. He could answer his brother, and answer truthfully, but that wouldn't help matters. He just had to do what he always did with family problems, act like he couldn't care less.

"I don't care. And Dad really isn't all that bad compared to what he'll be now. Marcy was the one who kept him in line." He said coldly.

He entered through the door and heard Sora following him. "So, she's Marcy, now?! Mom turned to Marcy in a couple minutes?! What's wrong with you, Roxas!" Sora yelled at him when they were heading to Roxas' room.

Roxas ignored him and went into his room, slammed the door in his brother's face, and ignored his father's yelling to not the slam the door.

He went to his boom box and blasted Metallica. Letting the angry bass and drums rumble in his chest as he went through his closet to find clothes for the party tonight. He was still going because it would help him with the issues, and sudden anger that now rocked through him.

He could hear Sora banging on the door, yelling to be let in, although he could've just opened the door, it wasn't locked, not yet anyway. Roxas moved across the room opened it slightly, told Sora to go away and closed the door and locked it this time.

It took him a good five minutes to find the clothes he wanted and went to the bathroom that was connected between the boys' rooms. He went to the door that leads to Sora's room and locked that too, and opened his so he could still hear the music blasting loudly.

He got in the shower and out in a half-hour. He had to be quick because he still had to ask his father if he could go, although, he didn't really think he would say no because he wasn't really normal when he drank. He usually drank until he either puked himself sober or passed out. Roxas was hoping for the latter.

Once he got out he threw his clothes on, brushed out his hair, fixed it using hair gel, and sprayed about ten tons of hairspray to keep it that way. Hopefully, no one would choke on it.

When he un-locked the door leading to Sora's room and went inside his own, got his clothes together for tomorrow, turned off the music, and went to un-lock his own door, and was surprised that when he opened it, Sora wasn't there.

He went over to the living room and found his father exactly where he was when he stormed out of the house, on the couch and drinking, look groggier by the second. It seemed like he _would_ pass out instead of vomiting all over the place for Roxas to clean up.

"Dad, where's Sora?" He asked, glancing around the room and kitchen, which were joined together.

"Said he was going to Kairi's house for the night. You going somewhere, too?" He asked, noticing his clothes and semi-dry hair.

"Yeah, I'll be gone for the night; too, I'll call you before I go to bed to check up on you. Try to make sure you answer." Roxas told him, feeling more adult than his father.

Roxas' only reply was a drunken nod and he rushed out of the house, not bothering to say good-bye.

Now, all he had to do was wait for Axel to show up, and depending on if Axel wanted to make an entrance again or not, it could take a while. But, he couldn't exactly do anything, so he just sat there, staring at the sky, watching the clouds drift by, and watching the tree branches sway. It seemed so peaceful, like the recent family drama hadn't happened, and it was just a normal Friday.

All in all, he had waited an hour when Axel's Harley's bike had come speeding down his road and almost crashed into the side of his house when he didn't slow down enough when he entered the half-circle driveway.

The red-head took off his helmet and smirked at him. "Ready for the party, Roxie?"

Roxas rolled his eyes at him and walked over to him. "Sure, whatever. Just can we go to your apartment first, so I can drop off my stuff?"

Axel glanced down at Roxas' bag and nodded, handing Roxas the helmet he had been wearing. Roxas clamored on, making sure his backpack was secure on his back, before wrapping his arms around Axel's middle as the red-head spun out of the driveway and sped down the street the way he came.

"You mind if I break a few laws?" Axel yelled to him as they swerved to avoid hitting a car.

"Aren't you already?"

He felt Axel shrug, and saw his hand twist the throttle, felt him move around slightly, and his head had been whipped back because they were going double the speed. He would have cared if it hadn't been for what happened earlier. He discovered being depressed and pissed at the same time made him a daredevil just like Axel, and coaxed him to go faster.

He saw Axel smirking in the right rearview mirror. "I was hoping you'd say that."

After that it took only seven more minutes to get Axel's house a city away.

They reached his door, Roxas leaped off and stood there waiting for Axel to get off.

"You go and dump your bag in my room, and hurry up. Don't wanna be late or I'll have to make a dramatic entrance again." Axel winked at him.

Blushing, Roxas ran up the fourteen steps to Axel's apartment, ran over the furthest room and threw his bag on Axel's bed which was lying on the floor, Roxas, Axel, Demyx, and Marluxia had all sat on it at the same time and broke it, Axel laughing his ass off, Marluxia gripping his ass saying the bed raped him, and Demyx and Roxas just frozen, not know how to react but eventually joined Axel in the laughter.

Roxas smiled at that memory, that was before Sophomore year, when everything was much more simpler than it was now, Axel wasn't an ass then, and there was no 'Organization', they were just friends hanging out. That rarely happened anymore, everyone always had _something_ to do besides have fun. The party was bound the cure that though.

Roxas then barreled down the stairs and saw a very impatient Axel waiting. "Jeez, you're like a girl, you take too damn long to do anything." He teased as he handed Roxas back the helmet and when Roxas had his hands bound securely again, he backed up, spun around and headed over to Leon's which was a good ten minutes going the speed limit, they made it there in three.

Axel parked and pocketed the keys and told Roxas to leave the helmet on the seat.

"Won't someone steal it?" Roxas asked, as they knocked on the door.

Axel looked skeptically at him as they waited, "That thing's a piece of shit. Not even a homeless person would want that thing."

Roxas was about to retort when the door swung open, music leaking out the opening and lighting making them glow different colors.

"Oh, hi, Roxas!" Seifer greeted, and was about to let them in, when he saw Axel.

Roxas saw the death glare the two was delivering to the other. "Hey, hey, this is a party. No fighting." He tried to diminish the tension with no luck.

Even worse, Namine, Kairi, and Sora came to the door as well.

"Hey, Seifer, who's that?" Namine asked, and saw Axel as well, her eyes darkening slightly.

"No one, he's leaving." Seifer said flatly, as he ushered Roxas in and was about the shut the door in Axel's face.

Roxas watched as Axel threw his arm before the door could close fully, and when Seifer opened it back up again, he saw Axel's wincing slightly, rubbing his forearm.

"Look, I know I fucked up a lot before, but I'm not going to do that again, I promise." Axel said with pleading eyes.

Seifer looked at him disbelievingly. "I doubt that." But as he went to close the door again, Namine stopped him this time.

This obviously shocked everyone, including Roxas.

"Let's hear him out." She said, crossing her arms across her chest and staring intently at Axel.

"Okay," Axel started nervously, which was something Axel was rarely, nervous, "Well, for starters, Namine, I'm sorry for what I did, I was an ass, I know that. And if Xion's here, I'll apologize to her, too, but I really want to come in. I realize I wasn't invited but I'm really only here because Roxas is and he's over my house for the night. So…can't I come in?"

Roxas looked at Axel with wide eyes and an open mouth; he was on the verge of going into shock. Axel actually _apologized_ to Namine, and what the hell was the bit about Xion? He didn't…not with Xion…

"Maybe, I'll get Leon. Let him decide, it's his party." Seifer finally said, and left to get the older high schooler.

"Oh, great." Roxas heard Axel mumble.

"What was that, Axel?" Kairi asked, glaring at the red-head.

"Nothing."

Kairi huffed, folding her arms across her chest just like her sisters, except Kairi's expression was fierce and looking on the verge of violence, while Namine's was calculating, staring intently from Roxas to Axel. It was starting to make Roxas nervous.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

Roxas looked to his right and saw Leon towering above him, looking straight at Axel, with his fists clenched tightly. Roxas thought he saw blood seeping from them, but decided it must the red light dancing all over the area.

"Going to the party. What else?" Axel said, glaring right back.

Leon took a dangerous step forward when Namine put her hand on his forearm and shook her head at him, he stepped back, looking at her worriedly.

"I don't mind if he comes, so long as he apologizes to Xion, too, and doesn't start anything." She claimed.

Roxas felt some hope rise in him.

Leon looked at her surprisingly, "He apologized to you?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Leon said, now turning to Axel, bearing a shocked look Roxas hadn't seen on his face since he was told Xemnas wasn't gay.

"I'll go get her." Sora said, looking awkward. Roxas guessed he'd had enough drama with their mom to have to deal with this drama, too.

They waited until the raven-haired girl walked angrily to them. "What?" She growled, "I was dancing you know."

"Axel has something to say to you." Namine said.

Xion turned to Axel, "Oh, really? Well, you can go straight to hell." She turned to go back to the party but Riku came, obviously following her, and stopped her in mid-step, "You should hear what he was say, Xion. Maybe he's actually being nice for a change." He suggested.

Xion laughed mockingly. "Axel? Nice? Not possible. Now let me go." She grunted as she tried to go around, but he grabbed her upper arms and spun her around, forcing her to take steps until she was directly in front of Axel.

"Speak." He told Axel.

Roxas saw Axel take a deep breath and told Xion the same thing he told Namine. Xion looked like she didn't believe a word, but didn't interrupt. When he was done, her tough look had softened slightly, but her hate of Axel was still showing.

"Whatever. Can I go back now?" She said, sounding like a spoiled kid.

Riku chuckled a bit, and nodded to her. She stomped back to the huge room that Roxas knew was supposed to be the living room but was effectively turned into a dance floor, the wooden floor causing the colors to turn darker than normal.

"Hey, Axel," Riku said, Axel turned his attention to him, "It's good to have to old Axel back." He said before following Xion back to the bright room.

Axel's mouth twitched into a smirk and then he turned to Leon, "Can I go in now?"

Leon's jaw clenched but nodded stiffly, glaring at him as he crossed the doorway and Axel reached out and dragged Roxas to the room with the dancing lights.

Once they were in completely he could feel the music pounding in his body, loving the song that was on, even though it was girl singing. It was still a good song.

They just leaned against the wall as Roxas bobbed his head up and down to the music. He watched Namine and Kairi dancing, well, more like trashing around foolishly to the music, but noticing how they were smiling and laughing the entire time.

It helped dull the pain of his mother's disappearance. It wasn't completely gone, but now that he was surrounded by his friends, he felt like he could handle it, and eventually just forget about it.

"Hey, you wanna a drink?" Axel yelled over the blasted 80's song.

"Wouldn't it be spiked?" Roxas yelled back.

"That's why you'll be drinking it and I'll be watching."

Roxas looked at him disapprovingly. Axel _never_ turned down an alcoholic drink, even if he was driving. But, against his better judgment, nodded anyway. Axel went off to the punch table, leaving Roxas to his thoughts.

This was much better than just sitting in his room, letting his depression get the best of him, and it helped to see his brother enjoying himself, and for once he was only _dancing_ with Kairi, and not even provocatively, that was a shocker.

Axel came back with the drink and Roxas sipped at it, not tasting anything weird but knowing Leon he probably put something tasteless in it, so he just sipped at for now.

When the song finally changed to an Alice Cooper song, Roxas started to get more into it. He'd bob his head more, started swaying his hips, lip syncing the song and just listening to it.

"You like this stuff?" Axel asked, wrinkling his nose at it.

Roxas looked at him and laughed. Axel's expression was that of a kid asked to eat brussel sprouts; pure disgust. He nodded and yelled, "Yeah, Alice Cooper rocks!"

Axel's kid impression disappeared and was replaced by a smirk that Roxas knew all too well. _Oh, no._

Axel grabbed him by the hips and roughly pulled them together, so they were glued together from their hips down. Roxas could barely keep a hold on his cup half-full of punch and stay standing at the same time.

Axel leaned in closely, moving his head to the side of Roxas' and whispered a verse, "Your mouth... so hot, your will… I'm caught, your skin… so wet…" It had him shivering, but not from cold.

He pulled back, but Axel held tightly. "I thought you didn't like this song."

Axel smirked wider, "I don't, Mullet-Head does. He listens to it all the time."

Roxas's heart started beating wildly as Axel started moving them back and forth, like a sexy slow dance, while Roxas' head was screaming at him, _Dance, dumbass! Dance his freakin' pants off!_

So, Roxas, being slightly buzzed from the drink, started grinding his hips into Axel's, and set the cup on the wooden table next to them.

"You're not doing it right." He whispered in Axel's ear, trying to sound seductive but knowing of the alcohol impaired his ability to _be_ seductive, but tried all the same.

"Well, why don't you teach me?"

Roxas grinned and pulled the red-head closer with both hands and left their lips mere inches apart and wedged a thigh in between Axel's legs, grinding slightly.

Some part of his brain was screaming at him to stop, but that was a very small part, the major part was begging him to just find a room and go at it. But he wasn't _that_ buzzed, he'd just give Axel a taste…that was it.

They danced for a while, and just when they were about to kiss, 'Black Velvet' turned on, effectively getting Roxas out of the mood. Alice Cooper always made him like that, no matter what song was playing, 'Poison' especially.

Roxas then let go of Axel, and leaned against the wood walls that matched the floor and grabbed his cup again and continued sipping. He watched as Axel stood, his breathing slightly out of order, and he was clenching his jaw, as if he was trying to keep something in.

Roxas laughed. "You got a problem, Axel?"

Axel shot him a glare and said, "I'll be right back."

But before he left, Roxas grabbed him and said in his ear, "Just think of Marluxia attacking you last year, that should help a little." The leaned back against the wall casually as a look of horror spread across Axel's face, but Axel suddenly look more comfortable and his pants seemed to fit better.

The red-head went over to Roxas, and leaned against the wall beside him. He leaned in and breathed, "That was mean. You can't tease me like that and not expect consequences."

Roxas laughed, "Like what?"

Axel smirked at him, "I'm not telling. You'll see in the morning."

"But, Axel-" Roxas whined.

Axel put a finger on Roxas' lips, "I'm not telling. Now, enjoy the party, otherwise you're gonna regret that hangover being all for nothing in the morning."

Roxas glared at him, trying to decide how to twist Axel's words on him, and still have Roxas have fun.

Roxas suddenly had an idea.

"Axel," Roxas said mischievously.

Axel turned to him, mouth open to reply, when Roxas grabbed him and kissed him just as Axel had kissed him in the bathroom earlier.

Axel immediately joined in, grabbing Roxas hips again (apparently he likes hips), and kissed him back, hard.

They were like that for, what Roxas thought, was forever, when in reality, it was only about ten minutes. The groping and caressing drove him over the edge, the moaning that came from his tiny mouth seemed to make Axel want more, so he went under his shirt, and glided his hands over his chest, making Roxas shudder from pleasure. He didn't know when they had both suddenly decided to stop, but they both broke apart from each other at the same time.

"Wanna get a room or go to my apartment?" Axel asked, his eyes closed sleepily but he obviously wasn't _that _tired.

Roxas shook his head, "Let's go to your apartment, only because I don't wanna die because you're tired. Let's go, sleepy-head." He tugged him along.

Roxas waved good-bye to his brother and Kairi who were just about to go into a bedroom and they escaped the heat of the house. Roxas seemed to be able to think clearly when the sudden change in temperature hit him full frontal.

They went over to the Harley and sure enough, the helmet was still there.

"I would offer to drive, but I've been drinking and I can't drive motorcycles, so don't fall asleep." Roxas told him as he followed him on the bike.

"Pshh. I never risk anything happening to Roxanne. Are you kidding me?" Axel said, as he started off again.

"Roxanne?" Roxas yelled over the motor.

"Girl counter-part of you, Roxie!" Axel said.

"Oh, uh, cool."

The rest of the ride was quiet except for the occasional laugh when they cut in front of someone, and Axel's swearing at an elderly couple crossing, and when he threatened to run them over they hurried across, somehow being able to move a lot faster than before.

They eventually reached the apartment, and Roxas sluggishly climbed the stairs while Axel locked up the bike. He couldn't really do anything but collapse on the bed and immediately closed his eyes.

"Nice, take the bed, whatever. I'll sleep next you, no screaming like a girl when you wake up." Axel warned. Roxas barely heard him before sleep over took them.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, I'm so surprised at how this chapter turned out! It wasn't supposed to be an entire Roxas POV chappie, but that's how it turned out! I hope you're not too mad at me! **

**Okay, well, please review! I think this is one of my best chapters so far… **

**~DarkAngelGrl22567**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Here is the eighth chapter to 'The To Do List' hopefully you all like it. I took me forever to finish it!!!**

**And thanks to; RoseRiku, Xanjen, JesusFreak, Larxene12, and F[r]iend for reviewing!!! I'm so sorry that it's taken me so long to get this out! I hope it was worth the wait!**

**Disclaimer: I do not, with sincere sadness, own KH. I can only play with the characters and twist them to do what my evil mind wants…. *sob***

**The To Do List**

**Chapter Eight**

Leon followed Axel into the dance room and leaned against the wall opposite to where they were, right beside the goody table.

He couldn't shake the feeling that Axel was here for a reason, he just didn't know what yet…But he would find out, until then, he would keep watch on the red-head and make sure he didn't ruin anyone else's lives.

He saw Axel and Roxas kind of just stand there awkwardly, Roxas obviously knowing the song that was on, and Axel just watching him. Leon squinted, trying to decipher what the two were saying. Then Axel was walking towards him, without Roxas.

Leon stiffened, getting ready for a possible fight, and was surprised when Axel headed for the punch bowl instead.

"You're driving Roxas home, right?" Leon asked, knowing that earlier Sora and Kairi had thought it was funny to spike it with some vodka.

Axel looked at him, obviously shocked he was speaking to him. "Yeah, what of it?"

Leon bit back a retort, "Well, don't you think you shouldn't be drinking?"

Axel rolled his eyes at him. "Duh. I asked him if he wanted a drink so I'm getting him one, none for me, though."

"Oh, well, just make sure he doesn't over do it." He suggested.

Axel nodded and smirked at him before sauntering off to Roxas again.

He shook his head, trying to get rid of the thought in the back of his head that Axel was up to something. It was eating him alive. Axel obviously wasn't talking to anyone else _but_ Roxas. And as much as Leon was glad he wasn't near Namine that still made him un-easy. For all he knew Roxas could be his next victim, but he didn't think Axel would do that to his best friend, than again, Axel was capable of anything lately.

"Hey, Leon!"

Leon turned toward the shrill voice that yelled his name loud enough over the speakers a couple feet away from him.

Yuffie jumped up to him, surprisingly cheery, she was right up in his face in two seconds and he leaned back a little to get some space.

"Hey, Yuffie…"

_She probably wants to talk about the party last year. That's probably why she came over._

"Sooo, you let Axel in I see." She said, settling beside him on the wall casually.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Leon had to suppress a sigh. She always asked too many questions for her own good, she always seemed so innocent.

"Because he apologized to Namine and Xion." He said simply still staring at Roxas and Axel who had started to dance…kind of, more like a weird swaying.

"Oh." She replied.

They fell silent for a while, with Leon keeping a keen eye on Axel and Roxas, and Yuffie just bobbing her head up and down.

When Leon saw Roxas start getting closer and closer to Axel he had a bad feeling he did not want to see what happens next…but like an idiot he kept staring. But when Roxas and Axel started acting like savage animals and were all over each other he looked away, and collided his head with Yuffie's.

"Oww." She complained slightly, rubbing her head and smiling at him to let him know she wasn't hurt.

He rubbed his own head once, but let his hand fall to his sides. "Shit! Yuffie, I'm sorry." He said, while he grabbed her hands and pulled them to her sides to inspect her head.

Once he realized he was the closest he's been with her since that night at the party he instantly stopped what he was doing and took a step back.

"Leon?" Yuffie said, moving closer and grabbing his hand.

He wrenched it back but instantly regretted as he watched her smile instantly vanish and tears start to form in her eyes.

_Great, now I've done it._

"Yuffie…" He started, taking half-step forward. "Look, we're friends, right?"

She nodded which caused the tears to fall faster, making him feel worse.

"Well, you have to understand that what happened last year wasn't really anything. We were both drunk, and it wouldn't have happened otherwise." Leon lied.

Yuffie's father had told him after picking her up last year that he is just barely tolerating Leon being just a friend to her, anything more and the "little slut" will be out of the house and on his doorstep in a second and left. So he acted for her benefit and hers alone, ignoring the intense want to just kiss her.

"It was only…because we were…what?" Yuffie wasn't just letting a few tears come out now, she was bawling. The tears fell thick and fast, and her body was shaking.

His eyes tightened and he had to remind himself he couldn't comfort her like he normally would, he let things go too far and he had to pay the consequences.

"We aren't anything more than friends, okay, Yuffie?" He said, trying to sound stern and friendly at the same time.

She nodded and leaned back against the wall, not looking at him.

He sighed and walked out of the room and over to Cloud and Aerith, Cloud was letting Aerith sit on his lap while they were talking to Xion and Riku.

"And I couldn't even stomach seeing Roxas doing that with Axel, I left and he followed me." Xion said, meaning Riku.

Aerith giggled and Cloud was about respond when he saw Leon.

"Oh, hey, Leon." He said, "Where's Yuffie?"

Leon sighed again in annoyance. Cloud just _had_ to ask that, didn't he?

"She's in there." He said, gesturing to the dance room.

"Oh. Why is she in there, she wanted to talk to you so I told you were in there." Cloud looked confused. "You _did_ talk to her, right?"

"Yeah, we talked." He said, pulling up a chair next to them and sitting down.

"And?" Cloud pressed.

Leon couldn't help but notice Aerith, Xion, and Riku were looking at him as well. Now they all would know how much of a dick he was.

"I told her we had to just be friends." He said trying to ignore Aerith's worried glance to Yuffie in the room and Cloud's obvious disapproval.

"Wait, what?" Xion asked, sounding extremely curious, almost rudely.

"Oh, no." Aerith said as she jumped off Cloud's lap and ran into the dance room.

Everyone watched as Aerith approached Yuffie who was crouching on the floor with her head in between her knees. Aerith appeared to be trying to plead with her and picking her head up. Yuffie tried slapping her hands away but Aerith wouldn't stop.

Then Leon's view was temporarily blocked by Axel and Roxas leaving, Roxas sluggishly following him. Leon wondered how much of the 'punch' he had…

When they left, Aerith was still trying to plead with Yuffie when Yuffie's head shot up and she screamed, "LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!!"

Leon cringed; shocked at how loud she could be when she was mad. This was not the party he had planned for their first weekend back to school. He pictured it as more fun, and some drinking, nothing too bad, though. And everything started collapsing with Axel coming and Roxas leaving with him, the drama when everyone found out about Xion earlier, and now this…To him that just wasn't right. Life hated him. This was _really _not how he planned on spending his senior year; cleaning up the mess he made in his junior year.

XION'S POV

This night just kept on getting better and better.

First, Axel had to show his ugly face and pretend to be sorry; she didn't buy that one bit. Axel was Axel, and he probably was getting something out of apologizing to her. And she was determined to not let him get to her; she wasn't going to spend her third year in high school worrying about him and what he'll do next.

And then, after he apologized, Riku had stopped and questioned her about what he was apologizing about. So, she had to tell him, and for a second he actually looked mad, and Riku _never_ got mad.

After he had a little hissy fit (mostly muttering obscenities) he then told Leon and everyone else seemed to know after that.

Everyone then seemed to come up to her and express their sympathy which she so did not care for. She understood they felt bad for her, but she was big girl, she could handle it on her own. She didn't like having people feel sorry for her in any shape or form.

And now apparently Leon and Yuffie have some problems. Seems like everyone is just having a crappy night.

"She's really pissed isn't she?" She said bluntly.

Leon gave her a 'No, shit.' look and she took that as a yes.

"Why is she so mad? Did you do something?" She pressed.

"Aren't we nosy today?" Riku said, smirking.

She looked at him, replied, "Yes, I am." And looked expectantly back at Leon.

"Hey," she said to get his attention, "You know my secret, tell me yours."

Leon glared at her and got up and stormed down the hallway, entered a room, told a random couple in that room to get out, and slammed the door behind them.

"Sheesh. He's a little touchy tonight. He's usually not like that. Must be bad." She said mostly to herself.

"Well, it is kinda personal." Cloud said.

"And your point? The whole thing with me and Axel was personal, too, and he still asked Riku until he told him." _Granted it didn't take him long to spit it out between swears._

"Yes, but Riku told him, you didn't. Think for a second, would you have told any of us if Riku hadn't?" Cloud replied.

Xion let out an immediate, "No."

Cloud smirked slightly, "See? It's the same scenario."

Xion nodded, but not fully giving up. She'd get it out if someone, she just couldn't help it.

Yuffie and her weren't exactly best buds but they had gotten to know each other while their friends hung out together and Yuffie and Aerith weren't really all that bad, a little ditsy, but okay. And she couldn't exactly ignore someone she knew and was kinda friends with when they were upset, she would figure out a way to fix it somehow.

"Where's Namine and Seifer?" Xion asked Riku. "I haven't seen them since Axel came."

Riku shrugged. "I have no clue, probably just talking somewhere."

Xion nodded. Namine wasn't really the type to dance; she probably just came here because she had nothing else to do. She wasn't like her sister at all. Kairi was a lot like Xion, except the constant sex with her boyfriend, that is. Namine was more quiet and thoughtful and not quite so rash about things, she only really got angry when it concerned her friends, and even then…'angry' is a stretch. It had always amazed her at how different siblings could be from each other, Xion being an only child that is.

Seifer was a weird pairing for Namine, Xion thought to herself.

He wasn't really what she thought would be good for Namine. In fact, she thought Roxas and Namine were good for each other. But apparently Roxas preferred assholes and Namine preferred, well, Seifer apparently. She didn't really know if Namine and Seifer were actually dating yet, though. Seifer obviously liked her and Namine seemed to care more about him than just friends…but Xion wasn't completely sure either way. She wasn't even really Namine's friend, she'd just been watching the girl for a while when she thought Axel was a good guy and when he told her that Namine was jealous which was why she tried to warn her about him. She should have listened.

There was another knock on the door and all three heads turned to it. Cloud got up from his seat and approached the door, and opened it.

"Yes?"

"Hiya, Cloud!" Came a chipper voice from behind the door.

"Marluxia, Demyx, hi." Cloud said, sounding as happy as he could in his monotone voice.

The two let themselves in and Xion was surprised when multiple people followed.

By the time that everyone had actually entered the room it seemed like half the school had come, which isn't really saying much.

Marluxia was standing next to Demyx and one of the Twilight Town girls, who looked like she was both excited and weary at the same time. Demyx was standing next to that Zexion kid, who just looked bored, while Demyx and Marluxia both wore very over-excited faces. Saix and Xigbar were holding hands next to Luxord and Xaldin who were next to the whole other group of Twilight Town kids. Xion thought their names were Devon, Michelle, Tara, Ellen, and Adam. Which to her were really weird names. The girl next to Marluxia was Rose, which explained his sudden interest in her, his love of flowers having a majority of the cause.

She had to keep from huffing in disapproval. These new kids haven't been in town for a half a school year yet, and Leon had already invited them, unless Demyx and Marluxia had invited them themselves, but by Cloud's face, he knew they were coming, which meant Leon knew.

To her, this party was just for their group. Granted some people weren't exactly talking to everyone in their group, and mostly she was there because she was friends with Riku who was really good friends with Leon but these new kids didn't really have any friends as far she knew. And she didn't think they deserved to be there, but she wasn't going to say anything. It wasn't her call, and she supposed that she could try to be nice, just as long as they extended the same courtesy. If she even got a _hint_ of dislike to her from any of them, she wasn't going to hold back.

She watched the Twilight Town kids with little interest.

Zexion seemed to have _all _of Demyx's attention, even though the kid didn't really seem all that interested in the David Bowie copy-cat. He just wore his blue hair really messy and in his face, he wore a black outfit but the seams were electric blue. His steely-blue eyes were watching everyone wearily, as if he really didn't want to be here, but couldn't resist all the same.

Devon, well, he was just looking worse than Zexion, except he looked more on the 'emo' side, than just bored. He had black hair that was obviously straightened; it looked greasy to Xion, with black and white baggy pants and a baggy t-shirt. She also noticed that no one seemed excited that he was there, even his so called friends. He must be the party-crasher of the group.

Michelle and Ellen were plainly excited, they chatting animatedly to each other. Michelle was wearing a red halter that showed a lot of her back, and paired it curiously with jeans and crocks. Her hair was down and it reached her shoulders only just passing them about half of an inch. Ellen was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans with plain black sneakers, her hair was in a high bun and Adam was wearing the same thing except he was much taller then the both of them and he was standing next to Ellen almost like a body-guard. Xion assumed the two were a couple.

Tara and Rose were looking at each other with the same expression that said, 'how did we get into this mess?' but their 'dates', Marluxia and Luxord were oblivious to their discomfort. Rose was wearing a black shirt with sequins on top paired with a green skirt and green converse. Her black hair was in two low ponytails pushed over her shoulders, she wore black eyeliner and clear lip gloss. Tara was wearing a red tank-top with a black velvet vest over with black jeans and black boots.

Apparently this little circle of friends liked black, but they were no where near Goth. The only ones who could even be _considered _Goth were Zexion and Devon, but Zexion didn't really wear any make-up and Devon just looked like a wanna-be to Xion.

"So, Cloud, let me introduce to my lovely little friends here." Demyx said, smiling widely at Zexion.

Cloud interrupted Demyx hurriedly, "Uh, Demyx," Demyx looked away from Zexion and look at Cloud, "We've met…._at school_." Cloud said as Demyx got a confused look on his face.

Demyx mouthed 'Oh.' at him and turned to Zexion, smile returned. "Let's go on the dance floor. The lights are _ah-may-zing_!!!" He said as his voice shot up a couple octaves and he grabbed Zexion by the wrist and dragged into the room, which was still blasting eighties music, obviously to Demyx's delight.

Xion blinked a couple times to see if what she was seeing was true, Demyx just by-passed the 'maybe-gay' line straight to 'sparkling-on-fire-gay'. "Well, now we all know who'll be Demyx's _next _obsession." She muttered to herself, and saw Riku's side-smirk at her in her peripheral vision.

The rest of the Twilight Town group followed them into the room with Tara, Rose, Luxord, and Marluxia lagging behind. The boys were trying to get more information on the girls while they were just looking wearier by the sentence. Xion repressed a chuckle. Luxord and Marluxia were always the most 'in-your-face' of the 'Organization' each in their own way. And the girls just looked like they wanted to hang out with their other friends and not be hassled by them any longer.

_Good luck with that. Their stubborn,_ she thought to herself as she watched them enter the room.

"So, what do you say we go join them?" Riku asked, as he stood up and held out a hand for her.

She looked at him like he was crazy, which to her, right now, he was.

"C'mon, no one will care whether you dance good or not. Just have some fun, Xion. For once." He told her.

She rolled her eyes at him and sighed. She stood up and took his hand, letting him lead the way to the dance floor. "I'm not dancing I hope you know." She told him sternly, glaring at him.

"Aw, c'mon, Xion! Dancing isn't going to kill you." He said.

"No, but everyone else might, I'm just gonna stand over there by the wall, where it's safe and away from people and the heat and the b.o." She said as she walked over to the window and opened it, leaning somewhat out of it and breathing the fresh air in deeply.

Riku followed her and leaned against the wall beside her.

"Well, what _do _you want to do?" He asked her.

"Just stand here and watch those idiots make fools of themselves." She answered not moving.

"That should be loads of fun." He said sarcastically.

"It is, actually." She said, finally turning to look at him. "Just imagine it, some idiot wants to show off and do some weird-ass moves but ends up falling on his face instead. Now tell me that isn't funny." She smirked at him.

He made a face showing he was thinking about it and he eventually sniggered which told her he was probably imagining Axel doing something like that. And she had to admit, she was too.

"So, you don't like the new kids, do you?" He asked seriously.

Her smile fell quickly. "What?"

"The new kids," he said, "You don't like them."

"Well, no, I like them, it's just…I don't like how they got _in_ so fast." She admitted.

Riku grinned widely. "You're jealous!"

"I am not!" She said hotly and turned back to the window.

"Yes, you are. I can see it. You're honestly jealous of them!"

She ignored him, and looked out the window again.

He leaned in farther to her and said, "But what I don't know is why."

"I'm not jealous." She muttered to him, even though she knew he was right.

"Yes, you are. Now, tell me why." He ordered.

"Bite me." She shot at him.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Getting defensive now?"

She huffed and walked out of the room.

She knew he was right, and she knew exactly why, too. Not that she would ever let him know. She was too proud for that.

She was jealous of them because it took her a couple months _at least_ to get included at the parties and outings with them other than the random park get-togethers because Riku was there. It took her almost a year to even become friends with Cloud and Leon and it seemed to her that the Twilight kids were already thought of as friends. It pissed her off. She felt excluded and ignored. She knew it was stupid of her to feel like that, they were only invited to the party, as was most of the school, but still… to her, that was like inviting them to a private birthday party, where she could just sit on the sidelines and watch as everyone else had fun and laughed together.

She would get over herself eventually, just, for now, she'll remain the jealous bitch no one likes. And, she had to admit, it wasn't really anything new to her. It would just take some getting used to again.

**A/N: Hey, everyone! Me again! I'm sorry it took a while to get this posted…. I just really got side-tracked with school and other stuff. Hopefully, I don't ignore this story any longer… This is the second part of the three-part party scene. **_**So much happens in this one party, **_**it's really kind of tiring to write because I want to move on to the better stuff, and more AkuRoku! But this horrible little, 'hump' (as RoseRiku calls it) has to get posted first, before everything else. Hopefully, you all don't just think this was a bunch of mush of a chapter. Let me know what you think….**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey, all! It's me again! Sorry it took so long to get this up! I was working on it for about three hours, so hopefully it was worth it! This one only has two POV's, but as this is the last chapter of the party section then I couldn't really do much about it. **

**And thanks to, **_**RoseRiku, JesusFreak, Larxene12, and F[r]iend, **_**for reviewing my last chapter! Couldn't do this without you guys! 3**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts of any of its characters obviously, otherwise, the game would probably be rated M. :D **

**The To Do List: Chapter Nine**

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**WITH DEMYX

Demyx was so excited to finally have some way to be with Zexion. He didn't really care about what Xemnas or Axel thought of him dating a freshman. To him, they were just two people, disregarding sex and age. To him, there couldn't be anyone better for him than the steely-blue eyed boy.

Demyx grabbed Zexion's hands and tried his best to get him to dance to the song that was on. Zexion continued to look at him like he was twacked or something.

"C,mon! Dance, Zexion, dance!" Demyx cried over Billy Idol that was currently playing.

"It's a nice day to..... start again. It's a.....nice day for a....WHITE WEDDING!" Demyx sang along.

Demyx's adrenaline started pumping even more when everyone screamed the chorus with him; even Zexion mouthed it a little. "Aww, c'mon, Zexy-Sexy, jam!" He pumped their arms back and forth and twisted his feet, sliding them from side to side in a weird dance.

Zexion eventually must've decided it was futile to resist Demyx so he let Demyx dance him across the floor. When Zexion actually started having fun and not looking like he was extremely bored anymore and replaced the frown into a smirk Demyx laughed crazily at how happy he was. They continued like that until the song was done then they went over to the windows where Xion and Riku were.

"Having fun Zexion?" Demyx asked, pushing some of Zexion's hair out of his face causing him to blush slightly.

"I should be home doing homework…not going to some wild party, Demyx." Zexion said bluntly.

"It isn't wild…_yet_." He responded while grinning like a mad-man.

Zexion just rolled his eyes and focused on the group in front of them dancing. "Actually, none of us should be here. Someone could call the cops or something."

Demyx sighed.

This was one of the things that he and Zexion would argue about occasionally; Zexion thinking Demyx was some party-animal and Demyx saying Zexion needed to lighten up and have a life outside of school. He didn't want to fight with him. It was only their second day of dating and they've already found something that was totally different between them. Maybe Xemnas was right not to pursue Zexion, but Demyx wasn't going to be a depressed little boy anymore. He liked Zexion a lot; and no one, even Zexion himself, was going to change that.

"If the cops were going to get called…they would've been two years ago when it was _really_ wild." Demyx claimed.

Zexion turned to him. "What happened then?" His eyes got a little wider with slight anxiousness.

Demyx shrugged. "Not a whole lot. It was Leon's first party and he didn't really know what to do…so some things got out of hand. Some fighting and the neighbors came over and yelled at him. Nothing horrible, don't worry, Leon's got more control over things now."

"Who was fighting?"

"Saix and Axel." Demyx said boringly. He wanted to talk about something else; like them. Not things that really had nothing to do with the present concern.

Zexion's eyebrow's furrowed in confusion and he slightly tilted his head. It was something that Demyx thought was adorable whenever he did it and it made him want to kiss him, but they were going slow. Demyx didn't want to scare him away.

"The blue-haired one…and the red-head who is always _really_ loud…"

Zexion's mouth formed a 'o' in understanding and gestured Demyx on.

Demyx took a deep breath and continued, "Saix didn't think that Axel should be hanging out with Roxas all the time, because they were dating and Saix wanted Axel all to himself. Axel told him 'no' and then Saix got pissed. They fought but Leon and Cloud broke it up, that was four days before Axel broke up with Saix." Demyx told him.

"Wow."

Demyx smiled at him, "But they're still friends, so it's fine now. Now, how about we talk about us?"

He saw Zexion visibly gulp. "What about us?"

"Well…I just want to know the boundaries again, so I don't slip up."

Zexion avoided his gaze and exhaled deeply. "Well, I've never really dated a guy before…is it different?"

Demyx couldn't help but laugh at him; he was just too naïve it made him even more adorable. "No, it's just the same…well, aside from the sex."

Zexion's eyes got even wider as Demyx explained everything about it; at the end he looked slightly green. "They really do that? It doesn't hurt?"

Demyx continued to beam at him and shook his head, "It might if you're not used to it."

Zexion's eyes narrowed. "And you are?"

Demyx's smile fell immediately and said "No!" too soon for it to be believed.

He watched as Zexion's arms crossed and he looked at him sternly, "How many, Demyx?"

"Do we really have to discuss this?" Demyx asked weakly, wincing at his stupidity. Why couldn't he just have kept his mouth shut?

"Yes."

"Not that many! Not even enough to actually count as something! Right now, I only care about us! What happens with _you_. No one else matters." Demyx exclaimed irrationally. He was desperate not to have Zexion think he just did it with anybody, anywhere. What he said was true, but still over-dramatic, just like him.

He could see Zexion contemplate this, and after a few minutes of nothing but the music blaring and lights flashing over their faces he was starting to get anxious. Zexion eventually grabbed his hand and tugged him towards him.

"I guess I can forgive you…" and he mussed up his hair and Demyx was so happy right now that Zexion wasn't mad at him anymore that he didn't care what he looked like.

"Yes!" Demyx cried as he lifted Zexion up and spun him around in a circle.

"Demyx! Put me down!"

Demyx let go of him, but held on so that he wouldn't fall down, and smiled at him. And before he knew what he was really doing he was leaning in closer and closer until their lips met. Once he felt that contact he went wild. He pulled Zexion flush against him and started kiss him furiously, as if they hadn't seen each other in years and they had just met again. He could feel Zexion's hesitation but he was happy when he felt pressure against his lips as Zexion returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around Demyx's neck and hanging on tight. But when Demyx's hand started to crawl up the younger boys' shirt Zexion ripped himself away, breathing hard and took a couple steps backward.

"Slow, Demyx, slow." Zexion insisted.

Demyx smirked at him. "All right. Sorry."

Zexion moved himself closer, leaning on Demyx's shoulder as he watched the lights dance across the blonde's face. "It's okay, just don't push it. I've never done this before."

"Well, you certainly seemed skilled enough." Demyx said s he wrapped an arm around Zexion.

Zexion scoffed, "Yeah, after years of practice on a wall and pillow…"

Demyx looked at him in surprise. "You used a wall and pillow?"

Zexion shrugged, looking like it wasn't the least bit embarrassing to confess that. "Yeah, I didn't really have any girlfriends, well the one, but she didn't last long. We're just friends now."

Demyx was surprised as the surge of jealously that exploded into him once Zexion mentioned he had a girlfriend before. He tightened his grip on him, as if Zexion might get taken away by someone if he didn't hang on tight enough.

"Who was that?" Demyx asked, trying to sound nothing but curious but obviously failed when Zexion looked at him side-ways and chuckled a bit. "Vicki." He said, gesturing to one of the Twilight Town girls who were dancing with Rose, Tara, and Ellen.

"She dating Nate now, so it's fine. You have nothing to worry about, Dem-Dem."

"Dem-Dem?" Demyx asked, delighted that Zexion actually said his nickname for once.

Zexion smirked again. "Yes, _Dem-Dem._"

Demyx laughed a bit and kissed Zexion on the top of the head, his heart sputtering a bit when Zexion's body moved as he sighed and he leaned further into Demyx. This was the one night he never wanted to end. It was just too perfect.

WITH LUXORD AND MARLUXIA

Luxord was busy watching Tara and Rose chatting away to notice a certain pink-haired, rose-toting man approached him.

"Hey, Lux! How's things going with Tara?" Marluxia asked as he poured two cups full of the punch.

Luxord shrugged. "Nothing new or exciting." He answered. "What about your dame, Marluxia?"

Marluxia sighed and leaned against the wall with Luxord, holding the two cups full of punch. "She's a little shy, but a little more lovin' from Marluxia will get her to come out of that cute little shell of hers." He said, winking at him.

Luxord snorted. "Right. Well, good luck with that, mate."

Marluxia shrugged and sauntered off, offering the drink to Rose, who obviously took it not to hurt his feelings, sipping t it slowly. Luxord saw her offer it to Tara who took a big gulp, made a little face, and gave it back to her friend. She walked over to the punch bowl, and sniffed at it.

"Yup! Definitely spiked! I can smell the damned alcohol!" She yelled to Rose as she walked back to her.

Luxord couldn't but chuckle a little when Marluxia looked a little panicky when Rose rounded on him, obviously wondering why he gave her a spiked drink.

"Just don't say you thought it was harmless, c'mon, don't say it was harmless!" Luxord pleaded to himself, ready to bounce into action for his friend.

He saw Marluxia's hands go up in an exaggerated gesture, and he knew he had to help.

"Well, well, ladies. What seems to be the problem?" He said, letting his English accent get thicker.

Both girls looked at him, Rose looked surprised to see him, Tara just looked aggravated.

"So, you little assholes decided to spike the punch, and just drag us into one of those bedrooms, huh?" She raved.

Luxord raised an eyebrow at her. "No, not at all. My friend just simply offered your friend some punch; he probably didn't know it was contaminated." Luxord lied, hoping Marluxia would go along with it.

Lucky for him, he did. "Yeah, I'm really sorry, Rose. I didn't know! We can go get some soda or something?" Marluxia rushed out.

Rose looked torn between wanting to leave with him and not wanting to leave her friend. So Luxord quickly threw in that he and Marluxia would go out and buy some for the both of them, and that they were to wait there. Rose nodded and Tara just went along with it.

"Alright, if you'll excuse us. We'll be right back." Luxord said, motioning for Marluxia to come with him.

They walked out of the dance and headed to the door when Cloud's voice stopped them. "Hey! Where're you guys going? Leaving already?" He asked.

Luxord shook his head as Marluxia answered, "No. We'll be back; we're just getting drinks for the girls."

Cloud looked taken aback for a minute. "We've got punch."

"Yes, well," Luxord cut in, "It seems Tara and Rose know their alcohol. So, they don't want to drink the booze so we're getting other refreshments for them."

"Oh." Cloud smirked. "Looks like you could be spending money a lot this year, boys."

Luxord shrugged. "Maybe. It'll be worth it though."

Cloud continued smirking at them while they left the door banging shut behind them.

"Let's get going. The sooner we start the sooner we can get back." Luxord said as he started walking towards the nearest convenient store. He turned around once he realized that Marluxia was no longer following him. "What?" He asked.

"Can't we take your car?" He asked, gesturing to the brand new black TVR Tuscan right beside Namine's 2001 S60 Volvo.

Luxord chuckled. "So, I can waste money when it's only a five minute walk, at most? Let's get going." He insisted.

Marluxia pouted slightly and jogged to catch up to Luxord.

"Do you think she likes me?" He asked.

"Who?"

"Rose." Marluxia said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why wouldn't she?" He asked.

He really had no idea where Marluxia was going with this. Marluxia has never come off as the type of person that needs any kind of assurance. He's the type of person who doesn't really care what anyone thinks of him, and he's not modest about himself either. So, Marluxia asking him if he thought Rose liked him was kind of odd for him.

"I don't know. Her friend seemed pretty peeved about the spiked punch thing, and you know how girls like to have their friends' approval."

"I don't think Rose would listen to Tara about her opinion of you, but if she does, then just get another girl." Luxord offered, knowing that Marluxia would never just give up on Rose. He was merely trying to get Marluxia to get back to his self-assured self. And this was one way to do it.

"I wouldn't just _give up_ on _Rose_." Marluxia exclaimed, looking like the world has just ended. "I would _never_ do that! How could you even say that?"

Luxord shrugged for second time in only one minute. It seemed he liked shrugging tonight. "I don't know. It was just a suggestion. Don't get your knickers in a twist."

"What knickers?" Marluxia asked, while grinning evilly.

Luxord groaned to himself. He walked _right_ into that one. "Please refrain yourself from telling me what I _do not_ want to know."

"Awww…You might like it." Marluxia playfully suggested.

Luxord glared at him and continued walking, deciding to ignore Marluxia if he hears anything about his undergarments again.

"Well, what about you and Tara?" Marluxia asked, trying to break the silence that had enveloped them.

"What about us?" He asked as he saw the store just up ahead.

"Well, you like her right?"

"Yes, I like her." He said blankly. He did _not_ like to talk about his personal with anyone. Marluxia was no exception.

"But do you like-like her?" Marluxia asked excitedly.

Luxord shook his head in dis-belief. He couldn't believe how girlie Marluxia could act and _not_ be gay. It astounded him.

"I am not discussing this with you, Marluxia." Luxord said as he opened the door and stepped into the store, with Marluxia close behind him.

"Well, I gotta know, Luxy!" Marluxia said as he followed Luxord to the soda aisle.

Luxord huffed as he was looking over the sodas and he knew Tara said something about 'MD' to Ellen this morning, but he couldn't find a soda with an 'MD' on it anywhere.

"Don't call me 'Luxy', Marluxia and do you know what a MD is? Is it like a sort of healthy drink?" Luxord asked. He was completely shocked when Marluxia started laughing at he grabbed a cherry Pepsi for Rose and a Mountain Dew after that. "'MD' is short for 'Mountain Dew', Lux. Way to be American." He sniggered as he went up to the counter and dragged out a five dollar bill to pay for the drinks with.

"Are you sure?" Luxord asked, not completely sure if Marluxia was being truthful with him.

Marluxia threw a smirk at him as he collected the change from the cashier and grabbed the bag and led the way out of the store.

"You've never heard of Mountain Dew?" Marluxia asked, obviously perplexed.

Luxord shook his head. "I don't drink soda."

"That's right. You're into that gross tea stuff."

Luxord looked at Marluxia who just grinned back at him. "Tea isn't gross. It is a healthy beverage that sensible people like."

"I guess I'm not sensible then."

"I already knew that."

"So, back to your thing with Tara." Marluxia started.

"I have everything under control." Luxord said.

"What made you like her anyway?"

Luxord fell silent, wondering if he should tell him or not. "She was wearing a spade on her wrist the day she asked for directions."

"A spade?" Marluxia asked skeptically.

Luxord nodded.

"You like her now because she was wearing a card symbol as a bracelet?"

Luxord glared at him. "Don't judge. You like Rose simply because of her name."

"Yeah, but that was only in the beginning. I'm starting to warm up to her personality a bit." Marluxia claimed.

"Right."

"Well, what about you? Don't you like Tara's personality at all?"

"We don't talk much, so I wouldn't know."

"Well," Marluxia said as they approached the stairs to Leon's house. "You _are_ at a party."

"What are you talking about?" Luxord asked, following Marluxia into the huge house and back onto the dance floor.

"You get it eventually." Marluxia said as he gave Rose her soda which she happily took and drank deeply from.

"Why do you always speak in riddles? Why can't you ever just say something?" Luxord wondered out loud.

Marluxia shrugged as he handed Tara her soda and she did the same as Rose. Luxord looked at both girls as they whispered something to each other, and looked at the two men standing in front of them, giggled and then stood up straight, looking as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Marluxia looked from Luxord to Tara and back to Luxord again and smirked. Luxord knew he was planning something, and it was probably something he wasn't going to like at all.

"Uh, Rose?" Both girls looked at him as though that as both of their names. "Mind coming with me for a minute?"

Luxord blinked. No, he did not like this.

When Rose nodded and Tara went to follow, Marluxia stopped and looked at Tara and said as politely as possible, "Um, I meant _only_ Rose."

"Oh." Tara said, backing off a bit and crossing her arms.

"Well, be right back, Tara." Rose said as she let Marluxia lead her to the wall by the punch bowl.

Luxord didn't like the awkwardness that followed between him and Tara. He didn't know what to say to her, so he just remained silent. If only this had been a poker game, he would know _exactly _what to do, and how to do it. With women, he was in the dark.

Sure, he'd had English girlfriends, and since he'd moved to America he's gotten girls with obsessions with accents fawning over him, but he never really took them seriously. Tara didn't look the slightest interested. The only hint that she even knew he was there was the occasional full-body glances in his direction before catching herself and reverting her gaze to Rose and Marluxia who were chatting away excitedly.

"So, uh, do you play poker?" Luxord asked.

_Idiot! You don't ask a woman first-thing if she plays poker!_ He mentally kicked himself for that.

Tara looked at him, then back at Rose and Marluxia, "Yes."

_She plays poker!_ She was turning out to be his dream girl.

"You know…Marluxia isn't trying to get into her knickers. You don't have to creep on them." He offered.

She glared at him, and said, "I'm not creeping. I'm just seeing what happens."

"Doesn't look that way to me." Luxord was increasingly getting more relaxed around her. Now that the ice had been broken, it seemed he could just plow right through.

"Well, then maybe you should leave me alone and go talk to someone else." She said, still not taking her eyes off of the two against the wall, who were now holding hands.

"Aw, don't be that way, love. I'm just trying to make a conversation." He said.

"Well don't." She said snobbishly and stalked off, drinking her Mountain Dew as she went.

Luxord sighed. Great. The _one_ girl who plays poker and actually wears a spade on her wrist is also prone to over-reaction and being melodramatic. Just great. He could _really_ pick 'em.

Luxord walked over to Marluxia and Rose and leaned against the wall also next to Marluxia.

"So? How'd it go?" Marluxia asked curiously.

"It was a utter disaster. She's my freakin' mother over again." Luxord complained.

"Ouch." Marluxia winced. "So, I'm guessing you didn't talk a whole lot then?"

"I tried, but apparently she thinks you're a creep, and when I told her otherwise she just ran off."

Rose gave an exasperated sigh. "She's always doing this. I guess she has this _need_ to always get into my business."

Luxord looked at Rose. "I thought she was your friend."

"She is! But she can sometimes be overbearing. It gets annoying sometimes." Rose answered.

"Oh." Was all Luxord could think of to answer to that. Tara did seem a bit like that, but Luxord was still determined to get to know her. It was just the idea that he may actually like someone other than just being friends that caused him to pursue it so much. Almost everyone in the 'Organization' had someone now. Even Marluxia did! Now, he had to get _someone_ to avoid being stuck alone with Xaldin and Xemnas when everyone else went on dates.

"Hey, Rose? Could you give me Tara's number? I think I'll try calling her." Luxord asked.

Rose raised her eyebrows at him in surprise. "Sure, I guess. Just leave a message if she doesn't answer. She's probably ignoring it." She told him as she got out her cell phone as he got his and repeated the number to his twice. He repeated it back to make sure he got it correctly and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. "Thanks." He told her and she nodded and reverted her eyes back to Marluxia and tugged on him to go with her back to her other friends.

When Marluxia was gone Luxord stood there, playing with his phone in his pocket, wondering if he should call Tara or not. He eventually pulled his hand away from his phone and grabbed a cup and poured the punch into it. He would need it if he was going to be calling Tara when he got home. He didn't know if he was going to do it sober or not. He thought probably not as he filled the cup again and drank greedily from it.

"It's a good thing I'm English and can hold my vodka." He muttered as he downed the drink in a couple seconds.

Apparently he was going to do it drunk.

* * *

**A/N: Oh, my fluffernutter! I finally finished the ninth chapter of 'The 'To Do' List'! Yay! I'm so sorry it's been taking me so long to update this story! I haven't really had enough time to do it, but this week, I made time! Hopefully this chapter didn't bore you guys all together! I'm sorry about this, but this will be the last chapter of the party. *cheers* Next chapter will have some more AkuRoku to it, for those of you who have been waiting for it. **

**And last but not least….REVIEW!!!**

**~DarkAngelGrl22567**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: So sorry for the wait, guys! I had written another AkuRoku one-shot called ****Sacrificial Love**** and I got wrapped up in that for a bit. And some other stuff happened… But! It's here now! XD**

**Thanks to; Xanjen, xHanako, RoseRiku, and Larxene12 for reviewing! I know others have read it you just haven't reviewed or replied on the forum. :P Meanie heads. **

**Disclaimer: ****I do not and will not ever own Kingdom Hearts. *sighs* Writing this makes me depressed…. T.T**

**The 'To Do' List: Chapter 10**

WITH ROXAS

Roxas woke up the next morning and was instantly greeted by a painful thing called 'hangover'. He groaned and went to roll over and go back to sleep, only to discover he couldn't move. A certain red-head had him pinned against him. Roxas' eyes sprung open when he felt Axel's light chuckling.

"'Bout time you woke up, Roxas. I was beginning to think you had too much punch." Axel said to him, smirking.

Roxas glared at him and looked over at the window where the light was coming from that woke him up. He soon discovered that the morning after you drink a lot it is not a good idea to look at anything that's light, and especially not the sun. He quickly closed his eyes, trying to ignore the throbbing.

"Do you think you could shut the curtains, Axel?"

He didn't need to open his eyes to know Axel had gotten up. The instant cold sensation from lack of body heat was evidence enough. He shivered slightly and found himself snuggling further into the spot where Axel had been.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now." Axel said, his voice jumping all over the place. He was laughing at him. Jerk.

Roxas opened his eyes again, cautiously this time, and was relieved to see nothing but Axel in front of him. He sat up and stretched, his joints aching from being so cramped the night before. Axel did only have a twin bed. It was his fault for agreeing to sleep over at Axel's anyway.

"You want some aspirin? It might dull it a little." Axel offered, seeming to be sympathetic finally. Roxas nodded slowly, careful not to increase the throbbing, but even then he winced.

"How the hell can I get so bad just from _one _cup?" He groaned, holding the side of his head.

"Well, it _was _Demyx who spiked it. You'll have to ask him when he wakes up what he put in it." Axel said as he returned with the bottle of painkillers and a glass of water.

He handed both to Roxas who stuck the glass in-between his legs, and unscrewed the bottle and quickly dumped out two of the pills, closed the bottle, tossed it to Axel and popped the pills in his mouth at the same time, chasing them down with the water.

Axel shook his head at him. "You can't hold your alcohol can you?"

Roxas glared at him, and dumped the rest of the water on Axel's head as his response and walked quickly to put the glass in the sink before Axel tackled him, like he knew he would.

When he had successfully got the cup safely in the sink he expected Axel to be right behind him, glaring furiously and then the yelling would start. But Axel wasn't behind him. Roxas walked back to Axel's room and found him in the same position he left him in, only now, he was dripping wet. Which Roxas had to admit, was kinda sexy.

Axel slowly turned his head menacingly and stood up in the same manner. This was the part where Roxas would run to the bathroom and lock the door. If only he could run faster than Axel, unfortunately, he didn't have impossibly long legs…

Axel grabbed him before he even got half-way and dragged him back to the room. Once he had them both in there, he slammed the door with his foot, keeping a steel-grip on Roxas. He then pulled him flush against him, Roxas had his back to him, but he could just imagine Axel's expression.

"You got me wet." He hissed in his ear. Roxas couldn't stop the goose bumps from coming. He was so _close._

To hide his reaction to the contact he replied, "What are you a girl?"

Roxas felt Axel's chest rumble a bit from laughter yet again. God, he loved it when he laughed.

"Nice one, Roxas. Didn't think you had that kind of humor." He said, as he moved them towards the bed, which Roxas was reluctant to go to. He didn't really need a repeat of the bathroom. Not that he didn't _want _to.

Roxas looked wearily at the bed getting closer by the second. "Well, I've been known to," he gulped when they hit the foot of it, "From time to time."

Axel threw him down on the bed, causing Roxas to bounce a little. He quickly followed, covering the younger boy completely. "You know," He started huskily, looking down on him intensely, Roxas couldn't help but get lost in the emerald pools. They were his weakness. And he had a feeling Axel knew that. "I haven't stopped thinking about what happened in the bathroom."

Roxas gulped for the second time. This couldn't be good.

He had to bite his lip to prevent the moan from Axel's hands roaming down, and sneaking under his shirt. He wasn't sure if he _could_ make Axel stop anymore, he wasn't even sure he wanted him to.

"And I was thinking…" His fingers brushed over his nipples, Roxas couldn't stop the groan. He wanted him to touch him _everywhere_. That was suddenly the only thing that mattered. Axel. "Maybe we could continue? What do you think about that?"

"Mmm." Was the only thing he could get passed his lips as Axel's hands moved south. His fingers finally working on the button on Roxas pants.

Axel had just started the shrug them down eagerly when the door opened, revealing a very shocked looking Demyx, whose expression turned quickly to a wide smirk.

"Uh, sorry for the interruption lover boys, but Sora's here for Roxas. So, he might wanna get down there before Sora comes to get him and sees this." He said gesturing to the two who were frozen in place from the intrusion.

"Shit!" Roxas exclaimed, shoving Axel out of the way, ignoring the groan that escaped the red-head when he fixed and buttoned his pants.

He went to run out the door, when he stopped and turned to Demyx, who was still grinning like a mad-man at him. "How do I look?"

"If you mean, 'Do I look like I was just about to have sex with my best friend?' then no. But you might wanna fix your hair just in case."

Roxas glared at him and shot, "Bite me." at him before heading to door.

He hadn't closed it enough before Demyx's reply could get through. "Nah, but Axel would!"

Roxas muttered to himself, mussing his hair, and pulling at certain sections to make it as spiky as he could without gel. Sora's look was all he needed to know it didn't work.

"What happened to you? You fall off the couch or something?" Sora asked as Roxas climbing into his car, grumbling.

"No." Was all he could say without lying. He couldn't tell him he and Axel slept in the same bed. Otherwise, he would get another lecture about Axel, and he didn't need that right now.

Sora got in and drove out of the driveway, careful to avoid Axel's Harley.

Roxas looked at his brother, and noticed that he didn't look good either. His eyes were red-rimmed and he had bags under his eyes. He probably cried himself to sleep. He'd seen this when Kairi's parents had tried to prevent the two from going out. He cried then for weeks.

It was then when reality hit him like a ton of bricks. Their mother had left them. She was gone forever. He took a deep-breath before asking how their father was.

"He's in the hospital." Sora said emotionlessly.

Roxas' eyes bugged out. "What?!"

Sora sighed. "Dad drank too much last night. I had to take him to the ER. They're thinking about taking him to rehab."

So, now, both of their parents could possibly leave them. How could someone's life just take this big of a plunge in twenty-four hours?

"Well, have you seen him since?" Roxas asked.

Sora shook his head. "No. I was going to go later, but Kairi called and said she wanted me to help her celebrate her father's birthday."

"So, your _girlfriend_ is more important than your own _father_?"

"Well, he hasn't exactly _been there_ for us, Roxas. It was mostly mo-, _her_ who helped us with our homework and stuff. He never did any of that."

"_Still_."

They pulled in and Sora turned in his seat to look at Roxas. "Look, if you want to go and see him, fine. But you're gonna have to take your bike or something. I'm going to Kairi's. I'll see you later."

Roxas glared at his brother and got out, slamming the car door shut as he went. Sora spun out, and Roxas didn't spare him a second glance when he beeped at him.

Swinging the door open, he crashed through the house. Running up the stairs to his room and begun grabbing things and throwing them across the room. He continued doing this until his carpet was no longer visible and he fell to his knees sobbing.

He heard a crunch of glass and looked down to find a family portrait of the four of them when he and Sora were just seven. Everyone was smiling and everything seemed perfect in that one, little picture. "How could you leave us, Mom?" He asked the picture, tears falling on it fast. "How could you?!" he was screaming at it now, "We didn't do anything! We didn't _do anything_." He screamed at it and threw it for a second time before laying on the floor, curling up in a ball, and bawling.

WITH AXEL

He groaned inwardly at his horrible luck.

That was _twice_ now that they've been interrupted. That was _two_ lost opportunities to finally complete the list and he was starting to think he could kiss the money good-bye. He was the only guy even _close_ to completing it, but now, he wasn't so sure he could actually get Roxas to sleep with him before someone else completed theirs.

And there was also this nagging, annoying thing his stomach would do whenever he touched Roxas. Axel didn't know why, but when they kissed in the bathroom and just now, in his bedroom. It was different at the party, though. A different kind of feeling. One he had never experienced before this. He didn't really know what it meant because he hadn't had any alcohol that night and he had eaten before he went. He dismissed it as a reaction to the lights. Although, the smart part of his brain knew it wasn't that.

"Hey, Axel." Demyx said, leaning against Axel's bedroom doorway, smirking at him. "So? You and Roxas were about to…" He led off suggestively.

Axel stood up and sauntered over to Demyx and got an inch away from him to hiss, "We _were_ until you decided to drop in." And then he stomped off towards to fridge, dragging out a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi and downing almost half of it while Demyx followed him.

"Well, actually, you slamming the door shut woke me up and Sora's phone call _kept_ me up." He said slyly.

Axel snorted as he kept on chugging the Pepsi like he hadn't drank anything in days.

"So, you're actually having trouble with getting little Roxas into bed with you?" Demyx asked.

When Axel got to half of the Pepsi bottle he threw it back in the fridge and shrugged in response. "I guess. Not really, though. If it weren't for all the interruptions I would've had him crossed off by now." Never mind that when he was kissing Roxas the list wasn't in thought.

Demyx straightened and got a confused look on his face. "Wait, what? Interrup_tions_? As in more than one?"

Axel nodded. "Yeah, we, uh, started in the school bathroom, then Xigbar walked in."

To Axel's extreme dislike, Demyx started laughing. No, guffawing. And he wasn't stopping.

"You-in-the-school-bathrooms?" He howled. "And-Xigbar caught-you!"

"Demyx." Axel growled warningly as he went back to his room and re-opened the closed curtains.

"Well," Demyx started, "You can't exactly blame me-" He got cut off by Axel's phone going off on the desk.

Axel groaned and strode over to the phone, and glanced at the caller ID. "It's Sora…" he said, confusion covering both his face and Demyx's as he flipped it open and greeted him.

"Hey, Sora. What's up?"

"Oh, god. It's Roxas. I-I think he's finally snapped!" Sora yelled into the phone. It was obvious he was crying. And as soon as he said 'Roxas' every nerve in Axel's being went on high alert.

Axel's eyes got wide. "What happened?!"

"Well, I went to go over Kairi's and then I remembered I forgot something in my room, so I came back to the house, and I went to check up on Roxas and found him lying on the floor, not even really talking, just mumbling stuff, and his room is _trashed_! I didn't know what else to do so I just called you. Do you think you could come over and talk some sense in him?" Sora rushed.

Axel didn't hesitate. He ran over to his bike keys and grabbed them and yelled at Demyx that he would be back soon. "Alright, Sora. I'm coming, I'll be there in two minutes." He promised as he shut his phone without saying good-bye or anything. He didn't really care at that point.

He had just gotten half-way to Roxas' house when he heard a siren wail behind him. He looked at his speed, he wasn't going fast enough for a ticket so he couldn't imagine why when he moved to the right of the road the cop car followed him.

So he pulled over, highly agitated and waited for the cop to get out of the car and approach him. He eventually decided to shut off his motorcycle and put the kick stand down, so he wouldn't waste gas. He got off of it, and leaned against it lightly.

When the cop finally approached him he was already four minutes behind the time he told Sora he'd be there. Roxas was waiting for him and this cop needed to make it fast or there was going to be some problems.

"Alright, well, son, I imagine you know why I pulled you over, correct?" The officer asked him. Axel rolled his eyes. Of course it couldn't be a female officer, it's got to be a dick.

"No. Can you just tell me so I can go?"

The cop narrowed his eyes at him. "You need to have a better attitude about this. A missing helmet is a serious thing if you get into a accident."

Axel almost started laughing right there. He got pulled over because he wasn't wearing a helmet for a couple mile ride. How stupid are these cops?

"Alright, I'll wear my helmet next time. So, _now_ can I go?" he said impatiently.

The cop sighed. "Well, I'll give you a warning for now," he said as he handed him a piece of paper which he planned on throwing out as soon as he could, "But if I or any other cop finds you like this, they'll fine you. You understand, son?"

Axel gritted his teeth against being called, 'son'. Only his father ever called him 'son' and he wasn't fond of it or him. "Yup, see ya later." He mock saluted him and kicked the kickstand back up and started the bike up again, taking off, careful not to break any speed limits until the cop was out of sight and turned on another street.

"Stupid asshole." He muttered to himself as he finally drove into Roxas' driveway, parking on the left side of Sora's Escort and jumped off, taking the front steps by two and let himself in.

"Hello?!" Axel yelled, expecting to find Roxas and Sora's dad sitting on the couch still, but he wasn't there. He assumed he was upstairs with the boys and was actually paying attention to them for once.

"Up here!" He heard Sora yell.

Axel ran up the stairs and straight to Roxas' room. He had to stop and watch where he stepped because not only was the hallway a mess with paper and notebooks all over the place, but Roxas' room was worse.

Roxas, who was normally a very organized person to the point of almost OCD, was lying on the floor, curled in the fetal position, with Sora hovering over him, surrounded by glass and his bed covers.

"Shit." He said as he went to bend down near Roxas. "What happened to him, Sora?"

Sora sniffed a bit. "It's because our parents are assholes."

Axel was taken aback at this. For one thing, he already knew half of that but didn't know the Sora knew. For a second, Sora never swore, and he just called his parents assholes.

"Well, he told me what happened with his mom but he was fine last night and this morning. Nothing was wrong. How could he get all…" he searched for the right word, "in-coherent like this?"

Sora stared at him. "In-coherent? That's a pretty big word for you, Axel."

"Just answer the question." He shot back.

"Well, Dad's in the hospital cause he drank too much after…well, you know. I _just_ told Roxas before I left for Kairi's." Sora explained, looking at Roxas sympathetically.

"Shit." He repeated.

They turned their heads toward Roxas as he started to move. "Axel?" he asked groggily, as if he had been asleep.

"Hey, Roxie. You okay?" He asked warmly.

Roxas seemed to nod, and looked around, looking surprised. "What happened?! Who trashed my room?" He asked, looking around wildly.

"Uh, you did, Roxas." Sora said.

This was getting really weird for Axel. Roxas was obviously convinced that he didn't do it, and he was acting like the end of the world was happening when he learned of his precious PS2 being smashed to pieces on the floor.

"What the fuck! I paid sixty dollars for that; used too! That was my _entire_ summer job! What the _hell!_" He whined as he started crying over the console.

"Oh, no." Sora mumbled to himself as he looked at Roxas with pity. "I think I know what's going on now…"

Axel was still staring at Roxas continue to weep over his lost PS2 when he said, "What?"

"His blackouts must be back."

Axel tore his gaze away from the blond and turned to Sora. "What do you mean they're back?"

Axel remembered his blackouts. They first started when his parents started fighting more and Roxas used to come over to Axel's parent's house and hang out there until Roxas' parents came looking for him.

Roxas started having blackouts first at home on the occasion, then at school. It had become quite a problem by the time fifth grade rolled around and he couldn't remember what he did five minutes ago. Axel knew now that that was Roxas' way of coping with the increasing problems his parents were having. Maybe, because after his mom leaving and his father being an alcoholic even worse, like before, again triggered something.

"I mean, his blackouts are back. What else could it be? It's just like before, Axel. But, I don't think there's any getting better with this. Mom is gone, Dad is probably going to get drunk all the time. I can't stay here with him all the time… What the hell am I gonna do?" Sora exclaimed to himself, dropping his head in his hands.

Axel bit his lip, looking at Roxas, and he suddenly got a flashback of little Roxas, confused at ever as they talked in this same room about how his mother wouldn't stop yelling at his father. He couldn't let his Roxie end up like that again, he wouldn't.

"Can I do anything to help?" he asked.

"Yeah," Roxas yelled to them, "You can buy a new PS2!"

Axel smirked a bit at that. "I'll get it for your birthday."

Roxas groaned and trudged over to them. "But I want it _now_." He whined.

"Too bad. You'll get it in two months." Axel said.

Roxas glared at him. "Fine. Get out then. I have to clean my room." He grumbled.

Sora left but Axel stayed for a bit. He wanted to talk to Roxas alone for a bit.

"Roxas. If that happens again…well…you'll call won't you?" Axel asked him, locking eyes with him. He couldn't get this protective feeling to go away. He wasn't used to it. Ever since eighth grade he's been feeling a lot more intense around Roxas, and he doesn't know why or when it'll go away.

Roxas looked at him, obviously awed by his obvious concern. "Yeah, I'll call."

Axel turned and went to go out the door but the nagging wouldn't quit. He sighed to himself and spun around in his doorway. "Promise you'll call me tonight? Just to make sure you're okay?"

Roxas looked bewildered but he nodded. The nagging feeling subsided a little.

He blew out a breath as he trudged down both sets of stairs and over to his bike. He took off and headed back to his apartment, certain that he wasn't going to be completely okay until he got a call later that day.

**A/N: Woohoo! *throws hands in air and starts to dance* DONE! Chapter ten is officially done and with nothing but Axel and Roxas! I'm so proud of myself! XD**

**So, now you've read it, and now you must REVIEW it! So, do me a HUGE favor and click the little green button and leave a little review, and I do accept anonymous ones! ;) **

**~DarkAngelGrl22567**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Wow. Okay, well, here's the eleventh chapter… And I had a little trouble deciding how to write this one… Honestly, I was all obsessed with the AkuRoku in the last chapter that I really wanted to change this entire story and make it just about them. But, alas, I cannot… So, since I'm in a fluffy mood right now, I'm gonna have some SoKai. Hopefully, for you fans of them, I don't completely destroy them for you. If I completely failed with them, then let me know. I'll shy away from them... **

**And thanks to; Larxene12, RoseRiku, Xanjen, xHanako, and F[r]iend for reviewing. You guys are awesome and keep this story going. If it wasn't for you guys then I probably would've given up a long time ago. XD**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own KH! (So, you can't sue me! :P) Nice try, Disney and Tanemura! ;P**

**The 'To Do' List Chapter Eleven**

WITH KAIRI

Kairi was pacing on her front porch, waiting patiently for Sora to get there. He had called to tell her that he was on his way when he had just gotten Roxas from Axel's house. The poor blond would probably be getting a lecture from him when he got back from her father's party.

She still felt really bad when she asked him to help with her father's party when she knew _exactly_ where he went with his own father last night. But she had to ask, she hoped that it would help him temporarily forget what happened, and that's all she really cared about.

Her parents didn't like Sora, but amazingly over the summer he grew on them a little. And thank god for that, she couldn't handle them trying to get her to hook up Leon anymore. Sure, he was a good guy and all and he was pretty gorgeous but they just didn't click like her and Sora did. They finally got that.

The only thing she wasn't entirely sure of was how to tell him that she was moving. Her father found a better job two towns away and they were going to be moving there permanently. She didn't want to go. She begged her parents for hours to let her stay and Namine just stared at them and ever since she's been a horrible mood. Not that Kairi blamed her. Her and Seifer were getting closer now, and Kairi could tell she wanted something more out of it but wasn't sure how to go for it. And now that they were moving, Namine might never get that chance with Seifer. And Kairi would have to leave Sora. And she didn't know how either of them would handle it.

She was contemplating whipping out her cell phone and calling him to see what was taking him so long. But, she decided against it. He wasn't really late. The party didn't start until about one that afternoon and it was only ten-thirty, so they had plenty of time to get everything settled.

After about five minutes of wondering off and on if something else might have happened, Sora's car did a donut into her driveway, making Kairi have a mini heart attack and run off her porch and scream at Sora.

"Are you crazy?!" She attempted to screech in his face. She was breathing heavily, looking at him through the driver's side window and waited for him to get out of the car.

He finally got out and slammed the door behind him, and looked at her furiously. She jumped a bit at his sudden anger and wondered if something happened between Roxas and Axel last night. It wouldn't surprise her if Axel was that shitty of a best friend too.

"Alright, so when's the party?" He said through his teeth.

"Sora?" She asked cautiously. The only time when she'd seen him this angry was when her father sent her a date with Leon. "What happened?"

Sora sighed, the anger leaving his face, and leaned against the car, slamming one fist beside him. "Roxas. He's having those damn blackouts again, and I know it's because of Mom and Dad."

Kairi looked at him, surprised. "But-I thought those were gone! He hasn't had one in _years_."

Kairi was awestruck. How could everything fall apart for Sora in just a couple days? It just wasn't right.

"I know. That's what pissed me off about it. He was _fine_ before Mom had to go leave like a selfish bitch and Dad had start binge drinking again. I mean what the _hell?!_ He's their _son!_ They _knew _something like this could happen…apparently they don't give a damn anymore." He said bitterly.

She bit her lip, thinking about whether or not to tell him to just go home and be with Roxas or to just hug him. Either way, she may have to do this party without him. That was fine with her though. As long as he was okay. She didn't think him helping fix her house for her father's party was a good way to be 'okay'.

"Sora…If you want to go back home, you can. I can call Marluxia and Rose to come help or something." Kairi suggested.

Sora shook his head. "No. I'll stay. Roxas will be fine, he'll probably still be crying about his PS2 when I get back anyway." He gave her a slight smile, but she knew it was forced.

Kairi smiled at him, choosing to ignore his fake smile until later, grabbed his hand, and led him into her house. "Alright, then. Let's get started."

WITH SORA

When they walked in they were instantly greeted by music, coming from the kitchen, which was a slight mess with cake ingredients.

Sora took a good look at the kitchen. "It's a _mess _in here! What did you _do_?"

"Destroyed the kitchen, that's what she did." Said Namine, coming down the stairs with Seifer in tow, which surprised Sora. Seifer wasn't one for parties, unless there was alcohol…and seen as how this was the girls' _father's_ birthday party, he seriously doubted any of them would be getting alcohol.

"Hey! I tried! The batter just doesn't like me." Kairi protested.

Namine rolled her eyes at her sister's melodrama. "Right. Well, how about you and Sora finish the decorating, while Seifer and I do the actual cooking."

"Hey! Whoever said I came here to help?" Seifer said, as Kairi started dragging Sora along up the stairs.

"I did. Now, get the eggs."

"But I don't wanna!" Sora heard Seifer whine before he heard a smack and Seifer protesting in pain, "Hey! Spatula's are not for hitting!"

Sora allowed himself to be dragged by Kairi into her bedroom. "Hey, Kairi?" He asked, as he sat down on her bed and watched her as she dragged out a big plastic bin and tugged the cover off, revealing an unfinished banner, a container full of confetti, and other decorations.

"Hmmm?" She replied as she carefully pulled out the banner and booted Sora off the bed and replaced him with the banner.

"Where are your parents?"

"Oh. We sent them out for a movie while we get everything settled. They don't know you and Seifer are here, so we have make the house look spotless and really good for me and Namine to not be in trouble."

She walked over the bin and got out paint and two brushes, handing him one and telling him to finish the end while she finished the beginning. While he painted the 'Birthday, Dad!' he asked her, "Why don't your parents want us here? I thought they liked me now…"

"They do, I just don't really know if they wanted this to be their friends, and family, and not ours." She said, smirking a bit.

Sora nodded, finally understanding now. "Oh. Well, I guess that's understandable."

Kairi beamed at him, in one of those I-love-you kinds of smiles. The one where it would get him distracted in class and he'd get scolded for 'paying more attention to his 'sweetheart' and not paying enough attention to the importance of life' as Mr. Vexen put it.

He smiled back and resumed the painting.

After a while of them just painting together he heard the door downstairs open.

He looked at Kairi in confusion. She glanced up and jumped off the bed, heading down the stairs eagerly, leaving Sora more than confused now. He was bewildered. Who could it be? It couldn't be Kairi's parents because they were at the movies. And Kairi didn't mention anyone else coming over the help.

He ended up following her downstairs after looking out of Kairi's window to see Leon's truck parked beside his tiny car.

He wound up finding Leon and Kairi in mid-hug when he came downstairs. "How ya doin', kiddo?" He asked, ruffling her hair.

"Perfectly fine. Sora was helping me with the banner upstairs." Kairi replied cheerfully.

Leon leered a bit at Sora. "Upstairs, huh? You guys weren't…?" He led off suggestively. Sora held back a snicker as Kairi turned beet-red and playfully slapped Leon on the arm.

"No! We were trying to get dad's birthday banner all ready! Jeez, Leon! We're not dogs!" She exclaimed.

Leon raised an eyebrow at her. "Coulda fooled me…"

"Stop teasing her, Leon. Just leave her and Sora alone." Namine said as she mixed the cake batter.

Leon turned to her, looking at her the same way he looked at Kairi. "Are you actually sticking up for your sister?"

Namine snorted and didn't reply. Just continued to mix the batter and told Seifer to get the no-stick spray and a cake pan.

Seifer got them, and he seemed to actually back away from Namine and sit in a kitchen chair by the stove. He seemed almost weary of going near her now. Probably because Namine likes to beat people with cooking utensils, Sora knew that from past experience from trying to tell her how to cook. That's not a good idea with Namine.

Leon turned back to Kairi, visibly laughing at Seifer. "All right, what can I do? You need me to put something up so you don't have to stand on a chair and possibly fall off?" He chuckled.

"Actually, yes. When Sora and I are done you can tape the banner up above the table, make sure it's in the center." Kairi ordered, grabbing Sora's hand again and dragging him the same way she did before.

"Yes, Ma'am. I'll just watch some bad TV until you're done." He said, as he moved into the living room and sat down on the couch and turned the TV on.

He got upstairs and they finished the banner, allowing a few mistakes on Sora's part. He wasn't really good at painting, so the edges on his part weren't very neat compared to Kairi's.

"Okay, let's take this down to Leon so he can tape it up while we inflate and tape balloons all over the place." She smirked at him before giving him a peck on the cheek and running downstairs, the banner rolled on her arm with him, yet again, following her.

"Alright, Leon, we're done. Use your behemoth skills and tape it so it's an inch and a half away from the ceiling and make it centered between the two walls, okay?"

Leon saluted her before taking the banner from her hands and moving the table a ways away from the wall so he could wiggle in between it to put it up. Sora did find it a bit funny that Leon, Mister Big and Tough, looked so much more awkward than the rest of them, with the exception of Seifer, in this house. The ceiling was way too low for his height with which his head only had three inches before he hit it.

Kairi stepped back, her back finally reaching the counter that was opposite to the table and was telling Leon which direction to go to make sure it was centered. Evidently she didn't trust him in that sense.

Sora looked up at the banner and he felt his gut twist as he read the word 'Dad' over and over again. He wished he and Roxas could do something like this for their dad. He couldn't remember the last time they had a birthday party at their house because of him. It made a lump form in his throat and he lowered his head so his bangs covered his eyes as they watered slightly.

"To the left a bit. No, your other left!" Kairi yelled at him, which caused Sora to let out a watery laugh as a tear fell on the floor.

Kairi went silent and walked over to Sora, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

His head shot up, which caused more tears to fall, to see Leon, Seifer, Namine, and Kairi all looking at him with concern.

"Yeah," he sniffed, and quickly wiped his eyes. "I'm fine. You got anything else you want help with?" He asked her.

Everyone seemed to believe him. Everyone except Kairi. Sora knew she didn't buy it that was okay. But he was glad that she didn't push it, at least, not yet.

"Well, like I said, you can help blow up and tape the balloons. I want at least three to every wall and two to every doorway."

Sora nodded, and waited until she grabbed the balloons before delving into the bag and blowing one up, snagging some tape from Leon and putting the first one the main doorway. "This good?"

Kairi nodded. "Perfect. Just keep doing that, that way the balloon won't get in the way of the door opening."

"Kay." He said as he grabbed another balloon and did the same thing over and over again until he and Kairi had the house practically covered in balloons that were blue, red, and white.

"Is your dad patriotic or something?" Sora asked, while he taped the last balloon up.

Kairi shook her head. "Not really, those are just his favorite colors and they just happen to be patriotic. Don't mention it to him; it annoys him whenever Namine and I tease him about it." She giggled at some memory that he didn't really want to ask about.

"Are you going to tell him why those are his favorite, Kairi?" Leon asked, smirking at her.

Kairi glared at him. "No. It's not important."

Sora blinked and looked between the two, Leon still smirking as he leaned against a gap in the wall between and red and white balloon.

"It stands for her mother's favorite color, Namine's favorite color, and Kairi's old favorite color, back when she had good taste in clothes that weren't all pink." Leon said.

Sora looked at Kairi. "What's the big deal about that?"

"Nothing, I was just in my tom-boy stage until I grew out of it." Kairi said, looking at him. "You're imagining me in red, aren't you?"

Sora nodded. But the truth of it was; he couldn't imagine her in red. He's only known her to wear pink; sure her hair was red but more auburn than anything. And she had a pink Volkswagen for cryin' out loud! Everything the girl

The timer going off made Sora jump a little, while Namine rushed over to the stove and dragged out a blue cake, but slamming it down on the top of the stove and rushing over the sink yelling at herself for forgetting the oven mittens.

"God, I'm stupid." She complained as she turned on the kitchen faucet with her good hand and brought her slightly burnt hand under the running water.

Seifer quickly ran out of a room and rushed over to Namine. "What did you do now?!" He yelled at her while he pulled her hand out which caused Namine to hiss from pain and put it back.

"I got the cake out of the oven and I forgot the pot holders…" She said sulking a bit.

Seifer's mouth hung open in shock and Sora had to keep from laughing from his lack of zipped-zipper. Apparently he heard Namine yelling and just rushed out. Sora held a hand over his mouth to keep from giggling like a little girl.

Seifer didn't notice at all though, he was still staring at Namine's hand intently as the water ran over it. "Maybe we should take you to the hospital…"

Namine scoffed. "No. It's not that bad. I'll just have to put some Aloe on it and bandage it is all… No big deal. And I doubt the ER would take kindly to a third degree burn taking up their schedule."

"Namine's right, Seifer," Kairi cut in before Seifer could argue further and Sora knew he wanted to, "If it does get bad later we'll take her, but right now, it looks fine."

Seifer glared at her. "Look, just because you're her sister, doesn't mean I have to be nice or anything."

"Well, no, but you may want to zip yourself up before you go all macho-man on me. It doesn't help you any to have your fly open…" She smirked at him and Sora couldn't help it, he just burst into laughter with Leon.

Seifer's eyes got wide as he glanced down and quickly zipped it while blushing furiously, which made Sora laugh even harder, and Seifer ended up throwing a wooden spoon at him that had cake batter and water all over it. Sora ducked but Leon apparently was right behind him, and he didn't duck. Sora froze, glancing from Leon to Seifer to Leon again.

"Hey, Namine, mind if I run your boyfriend over?" Leon said through gritted teeth and threw the spoon back in the sink.

"No, and he's not my boyfriend, Leon, so stuff it."

"Crap, now I've got freakin' cake shit all over me and it's staining my shirt." Leon complained glancing at his white shirt under his over coat.

Kairi rolled her eyes and grabbed Leon's arm, leading him to her parent's room connected to the living room.

Sora had no clue why she did but the answer was soon revealed after he came out in a navy blue t-shirt that he'd seen her father wear quite a lot. "We'll just put these in the laundry so you can go home in your actual clothes." Kairi said as she walked past Sora to go the wash room.

"Okay, I think my hand stopped stinging for now." Namine said suddenly as she practically ran to the bathroom holding her hand.

A minute later you could hear Namine's disgusted groans. "Ewwww! Seifer, you peed on the seat!"

Seifer turned red again and yelled back, "Well, what'd you expect?! You scream, I think bad things, I'm not really gonna care about a little piss on a toilet seat!"

"Clean it up! Now!" Namine yelled at him before coming out, her hand wrapped with an ace bandage and a white bandage sticking out on top and bottom.

Seifer glared at her but went in the bathroom anyway, grumbling the whole way.

"You know, Namine, you should probably stop bossing him around. It'll put a strain on your relationship." Leon said, looking serious but his body told Sora he was trying really hard to keep from laughing.

Namine turned to him, glaring fiercely. "There-is-no-_relationship!_" She said before stomping over to the utensil drawer next to the sink, pulling out a knife, and began to 'cut' the cake.

"Uhhh, Namine?" Sora asked weakly, eying the knife she was holding tightly.

She turned on heel and narrowed her eyes at him. "_What_?" She shot at him.

"Aren't you forgetting the icing?"

Namine looked confused for a second and looked back at the cake. Sora was right. No icing.

"Dammit." She breathed as she put the knife beside the cake and got out red icing and white sprinkles along with the spatula she had earlier and started icing the cake.

Sora felt a tug of the back of his shirt. He turned around to see Kairi tugging on it and leading him towards the door.

"C'mon, I gotta tell you something." She said quietly.

Sora noticed Namine's head shoot up toward Kairi. "Can't it wait until after the party, Kairi?" She asked nervously as she stole a glance at Seifer who emerged from the bathroom yet again.

Kairi shook her head. "No, I've waiting long enough. We can't just dump it on them, Namine. It's happening in two days. We gotta do it now." She insisted as she led Sora further out of the house and walked down towards his car.

"What was that all about?" He asked, as he snaked a hand around her waist and was taken-aback when she pulled away, and refused to look at him.

"Kairi?"

"We need to break up."

**A/N: Okay! So, chapter eleven is FINALLY finished! I am temporarily off groundation at the moment so I wanted to upload this before I get off the temporary release. XD **

**So, you like or you don't like it? Be sure to tell me in a REVIEW! I loooove reviews. They make me happy. So send 'em my way! **

**~DarkAngelGrl22567**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hey, guys! I know I haven't updated this in soooo long! I'm really sorry! I just had some more personal issues to deal with and then I just got side-tracked… But it's vacation now, so I'll have more time to work on it! :D**

**So, this little chapter has got Sora and Xion's POV and I honestly think some parts of it could have been done better but I did my best! Hope it doesn't all seem ridiculous to you all! **

**And not it's time for the thanking for the reviews! Thank, thank, thank, thank you to; **_**RoseRiku, Riku's Angel, Larxene12, F[r]iend, JesusFreak, Xanjen, **_**and **_**xHanako**_**!**

**You guys are my life savers! I love the reviews you all give me! You're the best! 3**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy OR any of the characters. *sob* WHY MUST I WRITE THIS EVERYTIME!!! IT'S DEPRESSING! **

**On with the story! **

**The To Do List**

**Chapter 12**

SORA'S POV

"_We need to break up." _

Sora couldn't get the sentence to stop echoing in his head. He inhaled sharply as Kairi glanced at him wearily.

"What?" Sora asked, his voice getting slightly shaky.

"Look, Sora, I don't want to. _Please_ understand." She pleaded with him. "My dad got promoted and he has a possibility of making fifteen-thousand per month if he keeps the job long enough. We're moving where the opening is. And, well, it's too far for us to keep this up. Remember you told me long distance relationships never work?"

_But I didn't think that would eventually apply to us! _He thought to himself desperately. "Kairi…No…Just…No." Sora slumped against his car and hung his head, his vision steadily getting cloudier from tears collecting fast.

He heard Kairi sigh heavily. "Sora…I love you. Really, I do. But we can't keep this up if I'm more than a hundred miles away! It's just…not realistic."

His head snapped up as he glared at her, the tears glistening as they poured down. "Well, then don't be realistic."

Kairi closed her eyes and sighed again. "Sora…Don't."

"No! How can you do this to me?! I _just_ tell you about my mother leaving us, my father being in the hospital because he almost drank himself to death, and now Roxas is having those damned blackouts again! And now you tell me we can't be together? What the _fuck_, Kairi!" His voice cracking making him sound more hysterical by the minute but he didn't care. He was about to lose the _one_ thing he would've sworn to anyone he wouldn't lose.

Kairi's eyes started to collect tears as well as she bit her lip before launching herself at him. He just stood there as she clung onto him, her body shaking violently from her sobbing into his shoulder, his shirt quickly getting soaked from her tears. He had to bit his tongue to keep from sobbing himself. He wrapped his arms around her and brought her closer still.

"_Please! Please, _Kairi. We can make it work. Just give me a chance. Just…don't end it like this." He said weakly as he pulled away and watched as she wiped her eyes and looked at him, eyes still glassy.

"I don't know… I _want _to stay with you, Sora, but… how would we see each other? It's nearly a hundred and twenty miles away! The most we could do is chatting online and phone calls! I don't know if I can do that…"

He gripped the sides of her head with both of his hands, making sure she was looking straight at him. "We'll find a way. I love you too much to let it end like this, Kairi. I won't lose you, too." He vowed to her, but mostly to himself. She and Roxas were the only things he could hang onto right now, and Roxas was slipping away now, too. He would be damned before he let Kairi start to slip away.

Kairi gave him a watery smile before enveloping him in a tight hug, which he gratefully returned.

They stayed like that for a while. Just holding each other, never letting go, occasionally they would share a soft kiss, and whisper 'I love you' to each other. Sora couldn't think of a place he wanted to be more. He was content, here, with Kairi. But he knew the question that was burning in the back of his mind had to be asked. It couldn't be put off any longer. Now that they had solved one problem (he assumed) he had to try to figure out the next one; when she was leaving.

When he asked her she looked sheepish and her eyes drifted from his face to the ground. This could not be good.

"Kairi?" He said, getting her attention back on him, "When. Are. You. Leaving."

Her face scrunched up before she answered, "Two days."

Sora's eyes bugged out and his mouth fell open in shock. _Two_ days?! Two freakin' days _left_?!

"_Two_ days?!" He echoed his thoughts.

Kairi nodded slowly. "I'm, Sora. I should've told you before, but I didn't know how to! I didn't want my last days with you to be all depressing. I wanted us to be happy."

Sora just stared at her, shocked. He had no idea what to say to her. She just pelts him with the fact that her reason for wanting to break up with him is because she's moving and she only gives him a two days' notice? How the hell was that fair? How his life ended up making a steep, down-ward spiral he had no clue, but what he did know was that it was going to stop. Starting today.

"Well, we don't have to worry about it now, do we? Cause it's not going to change anything. I'll visit you everyday if I have to, I don't give a shit about the cost of gas at the moment. All I care about is you." He said, once he found his voice and swallowed his growing anger at the situation.

Kairi beamed at him. "I know, Sora. I know. I love you, too. And I can visit, too, ya know. I _do _have a car."

Sora smirked slightly at her. "Right. Well, maybe we can meet in the middle or something." He offered, knowing full-well how cheesy they both sounded at the moment but he didn't care.

"Hey, you two!"

Sora and Kairi simultaneously snapped their heads in the direction of the voice. The parents were home.

"Shit! They weren't supposed to be back for a couple more hours!" Kairi squeaked as she scrambled out of his arms and launched herself into the house. Sora could hear her yelling at Leon to get everything together and yelling for her sister and Seifer to get back downstairs.

Kairi's parents got out of the van they pulled up in and he walked over to them, hoping to give Kairi a little bit more time to prepare everything.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Volksager." Sora greeted them, trying to be as polite as possible. Just because Kairi thought they liked him, doesn't mean it was true.

Kairi's mother, whose bright-red hair flowed freely down her back, giving her a warm look, smiled at him. "Hello, Sora. Are you here for the party?"

Sora nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."

"How nice. It's wonderful for you and Kairi to have some time together before we move away." She started, then her eyes widened slightly while Kairi's father, a slightly balding man, rolled his eyes at his wife's fake slip-up. "Oh, no, I do hope she's already told you…"

Sora gritted his teeth. He hated it when they acted sickly sweet to him when he knew better. At least Kairi's father wasn't acting like a total ass to him, at least he was civil.

"Yeah, she already told me." He said, following them toward the house, watching Kairi's form dart back and forth from window to window, along with Leon, Namine, and Seifer.

"Well, then you understand why you two can't be together, right? After all, she'll be over a hundred miles away. It would never work, dear; you do realize that, don't you?" She said her voice high and seeming understanding, but he didn't miss the warning hidden away in it either. He didn't plan on taking that warning.

"Well, actually, Kairi and I decided we would try to stay together. I can drive to your guys' new house, she can drive to mine, and we can even just meet somewhere in-between."

He couldn't help but smirk inwardly at her sudden stop in the middle of the doorway.

"Darling?" Kairi's father asked, trying to urge his wife inside.

She spun around, her eyes bulging wildly at him, her lips were pressed into a thin line and nostrils flared. "Why don't you go inside, dear, I want to have to talk with Sora." She said, not taking her eyes off of him.

"Margaret? Are you okay?"

"Yes, Doug, just go inside please." She said, not taking her eyes off of Sora. He narrowed his eyes at her. He knew exactly what she was about to tell him, and he was going to tell her that there was no way he was going to give up on Kairi. Ever.

Once Kairi's father went inside she approached Sora, closing the space between them so that they were apart by mere inches.

"Now, Sora, I know you're a good, smart kid. And I know that you love Kairi and want what's best for her, just me and her father do, but do you really a long-distance relationship is what's best for her?" She started, crossing her arms across her chest, her bright blue hand-bag swinging from her forearm.

Sora took a deep breath. "With all due respect, Mrs. Volksager, I _do _love your daughter, and I _do_ want what's best for her. Now, I can guarantee that I will take care of her, and I won't leave her. I can't imagine myself without her, to be honest. If I had to, right now, I would get down on my knees in front of you and beg. But, seen as how Kairi and I have already agreed to continue to see each other, so I don't really see a point on continuing this conversation, so if you'll excuse me…" Sora said, as he moved to enter the house but her hand shot out and gripped his forearm, stopping him from moving any further.

"Excuse me? And how do you plan on doing all that?" She said her voice high but a whisper.

He glared at her and what slipped out of his mouth was purely on a whim.

"I plan on asking her to marry me before she leaves."

_Hey, Sora, it's your brain… I just have a question… WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?! _

Mrs. Volksager's grip on his loosened and he slipped his arm away and watched her reaction as what he said set in.

"Marriage?" She whispered, staring at him in pure shock and disbelief.

"Yes. Of course we won't get married until after school. And anything Kairi might want to do before settling down. I'm ready for a life with your daughter, Mrs. Volksager, and I think she's ready for a life with me, too." Sora proposed.

He had to admit, even to him he sounded like he knew what he was doing. He actually was just pulling the whole thing out of his ass. Two minutes ago, he didn't plan on asking Kairi to marry him, but now that he had said the words, he couldn't think of anything else he wanted to do. He could picture them living together, having kids, and growing old. He should've done this a long time ago.

Kairi's mother straightened her back and replaced her shocked expression with a blank mask. He didn't know whether or not she believed him but hoped she did.

"You're serious about this?" She asked him sternly.

"Yes."

"Alright, I will allow it, but I hear her cry _once_ and I can assure you, I will have something to do about it." She threatened.

Sora gulped. He could see where Kairi got her attitude and protectiveness from.

"Y-yes, Ma'am." He stuttered.

She smiled at him and sauntered inside. Leaving Sora to his thoughts.

_I'm going to ask Kairi to marry me… I need a ring… I need money… _He sighed. What he needed was his brain to start working again.

XION'S POV

It had begun to rain almost as soon as Xion stepped out the door, further improving her mood.

_Great, _she thought bitterly, _now even the weather hates me._

She quickly threw up the hood on her sweater she was wearing and shoved her hands in the front pocket of that sweater. She wanted to stay as dry as possible; she hated being wet when she didn't have to be.

She was headed over to Riku's for a good part of the day since her brother had left for work early this morning, he wouldn't be back until around ten.

She had tried to convince him to let her take on extra hours at her work, but he had down-right refused. Zack was always the protective type, and it had taken her _months_ to let him have the job she has now, and he only let her have it because Riku was the manager. So, it figured that when she went ahead and asked for extra hours Riku said that Zack had come in earlier that week and told him not to let her.

That led to the worst fight she ever had with her brother. And she lost it, like all the other ones. She had to adjust to the fact that now; Zack was basically her father as he was legally her guardian.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he gets to boss me around every other five minutes." She muttered to herself.

As she was crossing onto Riku's street, a car went rushing past, missing her by inches.

"Hey! I'm walking here!" She yelled after it, even though it was already around the corner. "Stupid people."

She rushed over to Riku's door and knocked harshly, shaking the dark green door itself.

"Come on in!" She heard Riku cry through the door. She let herself in and closed the door behind her. Walking into the living room of huge farm-house she quickly took off her boots, so the rain and mud from outside wouldn't stain the red carpet.

She had to admit, she loved Riku's house.

It was so warm, and inviting. The colors were always dark, but it wasn't the kind of dark she had her room as. Her room was dark and depressing, his house was just, really closed off of the real world and she loved it. It was dark, but not dreary.

"Hey, Xion."

Her head whipped around and she found herself in close proximity with the silver-haired senior. "H-hey, Riku." She stuttered slightly.

She inwardly cursed herself for stuttering like a little girl. She viewed it as a weakness, and she didn't like showing weakness.

"So, what do you want to do?" Riku asked, settling himself down on the couch, gesturing for her follow. She did, not taking her eyes off of him, she was too busy admiring the way his hair would have a kind of shine in the little bit of sunlight escaping from a gap in the curtains. "I would say we could take my four-wheeler out, but it's raining. I don't want her to get all muddy."

Xion nodded. "Right. Well, honestly, I don't care what we do, so long as I don't have to go out in the rain."

Riku sank further into the piece of furniture and tapped his lips with his index finger. "Hmmm."

"Well, how about we just hang out in my room, then? I don't really have anything to do inside besides that." He said after a slightly awkward moment of him staring at her, which had her almost squirming in her spot on the couch.

"Sure. I guess. I don't really have anything else better to do." She answered, following him out of the living room, down a hallway that held two separate bedrooms, up some stairs to another smaller hallway that had two rooms and a closet.

"Don't worry if you hear some random yelling from Kadaj's room. He's going through a bad break-up with his boyfriend, Loz. Loz has been calling every day for him. It's getting kind of annoying." Riku said as he ushered her in his tiny room.

"Why has he been calling? I thought they were, like, that life partner stuff." Xion wondered aloud as she sat on his bed.

Riku shrugged as he sat down beside her. Xion felt herself want to move away slightly. He was much too close.

"I don't know. I don't really pay attention." Riku said, not noticing her sudden discomfort.

"Where's your dad?" She asked. She couldn't really think of anything else to say.

"Work. His boss gave him extra hours to pick-up the hours left behind by those who got laid-off." He explained, as he subconsciously inched his hand toward hers. She noticed this, and snatched it away, letting it fall safely on her lap.

"Oh. Zack is at work today, too."

She couldn't believe what she was doing. She was just rambling on about un-important things, trying to keep the conversation going, when as soon as Riku showed any interest in them not just talking she should've left! Her brain was screaming at her to make an excuse to leave, it wouldn't be the first time she'd done that, but her body refused to move. It was like a mutiny against herself.

She heard Riku sigh before he went over to the door and closed it. She had to focus entirely on keeping her breathing steady and not freaking out. Why was he closing the door?

He turned around and leaned against it and looked straight at her. His eyes seemed to just bore into her.

"Alright, Xion, I'm gonna cut to the chase."

She took a deep breath and found herself making up scenarios of what he was going to say in her head.

They couldn't be friends anymore because she was a selfish bitch; that made her cringe inside. She couldn't work for him anymore; she could deal with that. I want to be more than friends; she found her heart went wild when she thought about him saying that to her.

"Okay… Spill." She said, feigning that she was completely and utterly calm, when inside she was going crazy.

He sighed again. "Look, I know we've only known each other for a year and half, and I normally don't date younger people… Actually I date older people, come to think of it. But…" He took a deep breath. "Xion, I like you. Well, actually I think it's getting to border-line love really. When I heard what Axel did to you I literally wanted to tear the guy apart. I was thinking about it, and I never think about shit like that. I never swear usually either. You're making me go crazy whenever I can tell something's wrong and you don't tell me. So, I guess what I'm saying is… You wanna go out?"

And Xion was plunged into the biggest awkward silence she's ever known.

'_Xion, I like you. Well, actually I think it's getting to border-line love really.' _

_Wow, _she thought to herself, _Riku actually admitted he likes me. _

She wanted to jump on him, but her brain was screaming 'No!' It kept on playing back what happened to Axel and replacing him with Riku. _Riku's not like that. He wouldn't do that to me._

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to get the image of Riku using her out of her head. She knew Riku. Riku would never do that.

Riku sighed a third time. "It's fine if you don't want to. I completely understand if you don't. I just thought I'd throw that out there… Well, I'm gonna get us some soda, want some?" He asked, as he re-opened the door.

Her head shot up and her eyes grew wide. Once he shrugged and started walking out of the door she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his, even though he was bigger than her, she clasped her hands together and planted her feet on the floor, determined not to move. She felt Riku freeze where he was.

"You didn't even give me a chance to say something, Riku." She whispered, not entirely sure how she should do this.

He waited for her to go on so she rushed everything out. "I like you, too. I think I have for a while actually; I've just been in denial. So, yeah, I'd really like to go out with you…" She knew this all sounded really, really, corny, but she couldn't help it. She just felt like she _had_ to say it like that, otherwise, he wouldn't get the message.

"Really? You're not just saying that?" He replied, turning so he was facing her and gripping her hips.

She shook her head.

He smiled at her and leaned in. She didn't even really think about it, her body did all the work for her. She unwrapped her arms from around to grip his face and pull him towards her. Their lips connected and that seemed to ignite a frenzy between both of them.

His hands pulled her harshly closer to him and they seemed to be roaming her body, like inspecting it. Her hands wound themselves into his hair and crushed their lips together even more fiercely. They were moving and suddenly she fell backward onto his bed, but she didn't care. She felt his tongue brush against her bottom lip and she opened her mouth for him. As their tongues explored the other's mouth, their hands seemed glued to each other's bodies. Riku's hand slipped up her shirt and she leaned up to help him take it off. She did the same with his shirt. And somewhere, in the very back of her mind, she was shouting at herself to stop, but she was too wrapped up in everything to pay attention. All she knew was that she wanted Riku and she wanted him now. And Riku seemed to think along the same line as he un-snapped her bra with one hand and let it fall down on the bed as her hands went to the bottom of his pants and un-clasped them. She had just gotten them un-done and was yanking them down when she heard a door downstairs slam and someone yell for Riku.

They broke apart and seemed to break out of the daze that had over-taken them.

"Shit!" Riku hissed as he pulled up his pants and buttoned them up, and threw Xion's shirt at her.

"Your dad?" Xion whispered back as she heard the door to the hallway open and someone walking toward the stairs that led to Riku's room.

He nodded as she hurriedly put her bra back on and she had barely gotten her shirt back on when Riku's father stepped into the hallway.

And Xion was plunged into the _second_ most awkward silence she's ever known.

Riku's dad, whose long silver hair was pulled up into a pony-tail with a couple pieces hanging, still in his work clothes, gaped at his son and Xion. Xion knew exactly what he saw. Xion; on Riku's bed, breathing harshly, hair messy, and shirt on backwards when she rushed to put it on. Riku; shirtless, standing up, but feet still facing Xion, and breathing hard as well.

"Xion, I'm sorry for being rude, but I'm going to ask you to leave. I have some family matters to discuss with my sons." He said.

She nodded vigorously as she ducked out of Riku's room, ran down the stairs, and into the living room when someone caught her arm. Riku.

"Hey, are you okay?" Riku asked.

She nodded again. "Why wouldn't I be?" She asked, noting her voice higher than normal.

"Because you're shaking and biting your lips." He said softly as he pulled her in for a hug.

"I told you, I'm fine. Maybe a little more than embarrassed that your dad walked in, but other than that, I'm perfect." She said, using sarcasm to lighten the situation.

"He's not mad at you, you know. He'll probably have a talk with me, but he's not mad." Riku told her.

"Well, I gu-"

She got cut off by Riku's father yelling for him.

"I'd better go." He said.

She went to move away, but he kept his hold firm. "Not before I get something though."

She looked up at him confused and he took the opportunity to kiss her. It wasn't anything like it was upstairs, it was a chaste kiss, loving and assuring, not lustful and hungry for more.

"I call you later." He whispered to her before he bolted out of the living room and ran into the hallway.

She walked out of his house in a daze as she thought of what just happened in the time span on twenty minutes.

She went over to Riku's house, had awkward conversations with him while battling with her feelings, he told her he liked her and wanted to go out with her, she agreed, _they almost had sex_, and his father came up the stairs just as she got herself covered. All of that was more eventful than last week!

_Well, you went along with it, so it's not like your complaining._ She thought to herself as she spun her shirt around so it wasn't backwards before walked home. And she noticed something that seemed to lighten up her mood considerably.

It wasn't raining.

**A/N: OH MY JOLLY RANCHERS! I'M DONE! *squeal* It took my only three days to write this, because I felt so horrible about the temporary abandonment! *hugs readers* SORRY, GUYS! But anyway, yes, I know, Sora is being waaaay to 'romantic-comedy' but, hey, he's like that anyway… and Xion… phew… that was a close one. ;) Oh, FYI, Sephiroth is Riku's father…. Just so you know. **

**REVIEW! You know you want to…. **

**~DarkAngelGrl22567**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Okay, guys, sorry for the long wait, but I got pushed into another story I had been putting off for far too long. So, I'm extremely happy it's free and roaming now. And so, far, between this site and I've gotten about seven reviews for it so far… Not bad. But still… I wanna see what YOU guys think about it. So, do me a favor and look it up. It's called 'Come What May' and I'm gonna start writing the next chapter for it soon. But I needed to get this one posted for all of you before I worked on the next one for that fic. **

**ANYWAY enough of my rambling. Down to business…. **

**And thanks to my reviewers of last chapter; **_**xHanako, Libirica, PoupuFruity, Larxene12, and Riku'sAngel! **_**I love you all soooo much! 3**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. Although, I DO own this little work of fanfiction. :P At least I own something.**

**Hope you like this next chapter, guys!**

**The To Do List **

**Chapter 13**

Namine sighed as she sat on the swing at the park behind their house.

She hadn't expected Seifer to take it so badly of her having to move so far away. She expected him to be angry, but what she saw… That wasn't anger, it was a mix of pure fury and something Namine wanted to call a deep sadness but she had never seen Seifer sad. She had seen him angry, happy, and even a bit sex-crazed at times, but never sad.

She pumped her legs, making sure her white dress didn't blow up in the wind and wind up exposing herself to whoever might be walking by. He didn't say anything, just looked at her, nostrils flaring, his hands clenched into tight fists, and his forehead seemed to be permanently creased in distress. She looked at him, expecting shouting or even violence, but she never expected silence. That just made her worry about his reaction more.

She sighed again before pulling her cell phone out of her bag that was leaning against the swing's metal bars. She flipped it open and scrolled down her contact list until she hit 'Seifer' and hit 'Send'. It didn't even ring, it went straight to voicemail.

"Dammit." She hissed to it as she flipped it shut and shoved it back in her backpack. He turned off his phone to avoid her calls, she knew it. There wasn't any other reason why it would turn straight to voicemail and she had to admit, it stung a little.

She forced herself to swing higher as her agitation grew. It was her way to let it all out, her way of coping with things.

Namine couldn't figure out why her parents would suddenly decide to take a promotion and move miles away just because the pay is a couple hundred dollars extra. It just didn't make sense to her. They knew that she and Kairi were sick of moving, even if it was just around town, but still. She thought they were done moving, that she would actually be able to settle down for once, and get used to a house before having to move again.

_Guess I was wrong about that._

She would miss coming here whenever things got rough at home. She never saw the new house. When her parents asked her and Kairi to come look at it with them, they said they were busy doing something else to avoid the harsh reality that they were actually moving. Now, it was like someone had smacked her in the face with the facts. Fact number one; they were moving and they weren't coming back. Fact number two; she felt sick once she watched Seifer walk away without saying anything and every fiber of her being urged to follow him. Fact number three; she loved him, and she was never going to see him again.

The thought made her eyes start to sting from the tears. Why did she have to realize everything too late? Why couldn't she have said something to him before now? There were a million more 'why's' going through her head and she dug her sandals into the dirt and hung her head and cried. She didn't care that her feet were getting dirty from being buried in the dirt to stop the swing, she didn't care that her dress would have tear stains on the white fabric, and she definitely didn't care that her sobs were echoing in the area and that everyone within a couple miles could probably hear her. She just let it out, as she repeated to herself that she was never going to see Seifer again or any of her other friends.

But she mostly couldn't get Seifer out of her head.

She didn't know how she got there, but suddenly her face smacked against the hard dirt as she fell from the swing and onto the wood chips and dirt spots. She didn't move, just laid, sprawled out, and balled her eyes out.

"Namine?" She heard someone yell to her.

She didn't bother raising her head to see who it was. She just wanted to be left alone, and hoped the person who was calling her wouldn't see her on the ground. _Please, just let them go away. Please. _

But they didn't. They continued to call her name, each time growing urgent, and now another voice accompanied the first one. Her brain wouldn't let her quiet down or try to figure out who the people were; she just continued crying while silently wishing they would just leave her alone.

She heard footsteps approach, but still made no movement. "Namine?!" She heard the first voice shriek a few feet away from her, the footsteps now closer together and louder, another pair following the first ones.

She felt someone try to lift her up but she resisted against it. "Leave me alone!" Came her muffled cry and she shoved her face deeper into the ground, as if it could make her disappear.

"Namine, stop! Namine! What's wrong?" Said the voice, the most familiar voice. But she couldn't place it.

Finally, she looked up and was met with the watery shapes of two people, one had auburn hair and the other had brown. "Kairi? Sora?" She asked weakly, as she tried to blink away her tears so she could see clearly.

"Yeah." Kairi said, moving the hair out of her sister's face gently, and started wiping the dirt from it as well. "What happened? Did you get into a fight with someone?" She asked, her voice taking a paternal note to it. Normally Namine would tell her to stop babying her, but right now, she just didn't care.

Namine shook her head.

"Well, then what's wrong? Is it because we're moving?" Kairi pressed on.

"Kind of. I was talking to Seifer," She winced, once she said his name the image of his face came back and it sent spasms of pain through her, "about us moving and he didn't take it too well."

Kairi eyes glinted dangerously. "Did he hit you?"

Namine eyes grew wide. "No! Of course he didn't!" She insisted and watched as Kairi seemed to relax. "He just…didn't say anything. Just walked away, and now he won't talk to me. I've tried his cell phone a million times and it goes straight to voicemail. I don't know what else to do! I don't want to leave, Kairi! I-I just…ugh!" She broke off into sobs.

Kairi pulled her close and rocked her back and forth while she cried. Her chest started to hurt from the heaves and she saw Sora just looking at her, wondering what to do with himself.

"Kairi," Sora said, Namine and Kairi both looked at him. "Maybe I could try to talk to Seifer, get him to talk to Namine a little." He offered and Namine gave him a watery smile. Her love for him grew a little bit at those words.

Namine felt Kairi nod to him as she continued to hug her sister.

"Thank you, Sora." Namine said to him, beaming at him.

Sora smiled back at her. "No problem, Namine." He said before taking off and she saw him pull out his cell phone.

Turning her attention back to Kairi, Namine slowly pulled away from her, drying her eyes and moving to stand up. Kairi followed suit and began the brush the dirt from her clothes as Namine groaned to herself.

"I'm never going to get this dirt off!" She complained to Kairi, who just smirked at her.

"Well, that's what you get for laying in the dirt in a white dress."

Namine glared at her. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

She bent down to get her backpack off the ground and brushed a few ants and pieces of grass off the bottom of that as well.

"Always here to help." Kairi saluted, causing Namine to roll her eyes at her.

"Can we just do back home?" She asked, biting her tongue to keep from saying, 'while it's still home'. That would only make things worse.

Kairi nodded. "Sure."

As they walked in, their parents were in the kitchen, waiting for her. "Where have you been?" Their mother asked shrilly.

Namine shrugged before taking off her dirty sandals. "And so _dirty_." Her mother made it sound like a curse word. "How do you live with yourself being this way, Namine? Honestly, I expected more from you."

"Mom, stop. Namine just went to park is all. Clothes can be put in the washer and Namine can take a shower, Mom. It's _not_ a big deal." Kairi put in as she grabbed Namine and dragged her to her room.

"What are you doing?" Namine asked in monotone.

She had let her face be void of any emotion when her mother had started speaking to her. She's always done that whenever she spoke to her mother, her father was different. He didn't downgrade her at every chance he got, but her mother did. Everything her mother said was against her, never _for_ her. But it wasn't just her either. Her mother was like that with everyone except her father. It seemed like he was the only one she loved or even cared about.

"I'm getting you some clothes for a shower." Kairi answered while buried in Namine's closet and was rummaging around in it. "Do you want actual clothes or PJ's?"

"Just give me clothes. I can change when I'm going to sleep." Namine answered, slowly getting out of her almost emotionless state while she was away from her mother.

"Okay, here. Jeans, tank-top, bra, and underwear." Kairi said as she handed each piece of fabric to her.

"You didn't have to get everything, Kairi." She mumbled while trying to hide her under-garments.

Kairi chuckled. "Well, too bad. Now, get in the shower before Mom sees you and starts on another rant again." She said as she pushed Namine towards her bathroom.

Once she was successfully in, Namine shut the door behind her and dropped her clean clothes on the counter by the sink before stripping herself. As she got in the shower and the hot water poured down her she sighed. The shower was the one place where she did most of her thinking. And this was the one time where she didn't want to think at all. She wished she could go back to the mindless shell of a girl she was before. Now, she didn't see how she could avoid the way her thoughts were leading her.

What if Seifer had stayed and they talked about it? Would they have figured out a way to remain in contact? Would she have told how she feels? She could get all the questions out of her head, or keep her mind from running through different scenarios where she would tell him and he would, somehow, feel the same way.

_He only thinks of you as a close friend! That's it, Namine! Take what you can get!_

As she washed her hair and body she kept on thinking. Thinking about everything they've done together. The first time she saw him. They first time they spoke. All these flashbacks and more ran through her head as well as what she imagined their future.

_Would you stop thinking about him?! _She yelled at herself, making her feel a bit crazy. _ He's __**not**__ going to talk to you. And you're__** not**__ going to see him before you move away. So __**stop thinking about it! **_

Once she was clean and rinsed off she turned off the water and stepped out, the steam pouring out of the shower area and all over her bathroom mirror. She threw on her clothes, thinking about whether Sora had succeeded in getting Seifer to talk to her or not. That was part of the reason she wanted clothes. If he wanted to go somewhere and talk, she wouldn't need to change, _and _he wouldn't see her in her rainbow pajamas. That was an added plus.

As she went to exit the bathroom her hand froze just before the door knob. Her bedroom light was on. She never turns on her light. Ever. Someone was in her room. Her heart started pounding and her mouth suddenly got dry. Her hands started shaking and her mind started wandering into bad horror film plots where the killer waited for the blonde to get done her shower before killing her in her own bedroom.

She bit into her tongue, silently rebuking herself. It was probably just Kairi making sure she was alright. She took a deep breath, the nagging voice in the back of her head told to at least be on the alert, and opened the door.

There was someone in her room alright. But it wasn't Kairi, or even her parents. It was Seifer.

She was so shocked she almost dropped her pile of dirty clothes on her floor. Her mouth fell open and her eyes grew wide. "S-Seifer?"

He was looked at her floor, on her bed, but at the sound of his name he perked up. As she looked at him, she searched for any anger at all and could find none. In fact, he was actually looking apologetic at her.

"Hey, Namine." He said. The agony in his voice almost tore her apart.

She walked over to her hamper and threw her clothes in before closing her bedroom door for privacy. She didn't want anyone to hear what they were talking about. She would make it a point to give Sora a huge hug and a 'thank you' before the night was over, though.

"Are you alright?" Seifer asked her as she sat down on her bed next to him.

She scoffed quietly and looked at him, giving him a lopsided smile, noticing he was staring at her wall, like it was talking back to him. "I was about to ask you the same thing."

"I'm fine." He said.

"Me too."

And silence filled the room after that. Namine couldn't think of anything to say, and what she _did_ think of to say, she shot it down because it didn't sound right. Maybe he was waiting for her to say something first, she didn't know, but she couldn't think of anything to tell him. Instead, much to her surprise, he broke it first.

"So, Sora called me." Again, he wasn't looking at her; just spoke to the wall and TV that was on her dresser in front of said wall.

"What did he say?"

"He said I needed to stop being an ass and think about someone else for a change. And then he told me to get my ass over here if I wanted to keep it." She saw a slight smirk playing on his lips.

_At least he can still do that. _

"So, I'm guessing you wanted to keep it then?"

His smile grew bigger before he turned to look at her. "Yeah, I guess so."

And another silence erupted around them. But she didn't mind this time. They were just staring at each other. Namine was captivated by his sky-blue eyes and couldn't break the sudden connection she felt between them. Before she even registered the fact that they were increasingly getting closer to each other, their lips were mashed together and she was grasping his head to pull him closer and he was doing the same with her.

She couldn't believe the relief she felt when she finally realized that she was kissing Seifer and he was kissing back. Actually, he seemed a little bit more aggressive about it than she did, but she wasn't complaining. She liked it that way.

As the kiss gained more momentum and they ended up with Namine lying fully on top of Seifer and his hands reaching underneath her shirt, Seifer moaned her name, which made the lust building inside her multiply by ten.

But once he reached her bra and started kneading her breasts something snapped. Her eyes flew open and she jerked away from him, causing herself to fall on the floor, gasping for air. He shot up as well and moved toward the edge of the bed.

"Namine? You okay?" He asked her gently, his eyes wide with concern.

She shakily stood and looked at him wearily. She could see in her closet mirror that she looked horrible. Her hair was all over the place and probably knotted insanely, her shirt was wrinkled and raised up more on one side and her lips were red and swollen. Her eyes didn't make it any better. They were wide with fear and anticipation. Like she somehow knew Seifer would bound off the bed and lunge at her again, not stopping this time. Just taking her in own house, and not caring who might hear or who might walk in. She took a couple steps back from him, until she hit the dresser with her TV on.

"Namine? What's wrong?" Seifer asked, slowly sliding off the bed and stepping cautiously towards her, it reminded her of a cop trying to calm down a suspect.

"Get away from me." She whispered.

She couldn't get the images out of her head. She thought she was over this. Everything was fine and then… All Seifer did was touch her, and everything she'd worked so hard to get to disappear crumbled away. Now, she was back to square one. Back to how she used to be. The small, scared little girl who cowers at everyone and everything. She hated it, but couldn't help it. There was no other way to react. Her body wouldn't let her. Her mind knew Seifer would never do something like that to her, but her body didn't. It continued to shy away from him when her mind was screaming at it to just let him touch her.

"What?" Seifer looked confused and worried at the same time. He continued to inch closer to her while she moved to the left and was following the wall towards her door, ready to bolt for it, if necessary.

"Stay _away_ from me." She said, louder this time.

Seifer face scrunched up in disbelief. "You're kidding, right?"

She shook her head in tune with the rest of her body. She hoped he couldn't see her shiver in fear. It wasn't of _him _it was his touch. Anyone's touch really.

"I can't believe this." He muttered to himself. Namine knew he had enough of her and the thought brought tears to her eyes. She wanted to tell him, but she couldn't. She hadn't even told her sister yet. She wanted this one thing to be taken with her to the grave, but it might just cost her everything. Including Seifer.

"How can you stand there and say that? After all of _that!_" His hand shot towards the bed in an obvious referral to what had happened just minutes earlier. "I don't get you, Namine." He said quietly, giving her a dejected look. "I used to. Before. But now…I just don't _get_ you anymore. I don't know what else to do. It's like you're a different person, now all of a sudden you're not _Namine_ any more." He said and every word went through like spikes but she knew it was true. She had changed, and she knew that. She just didn't realize, until now, how _much_ she had changed.

The tears spilled over as she sagged against the wall, not stopping Seifer from walking to the door.

"By the way…the _old_ Namine…I was in love with her. Let me know when she comes back." And he left her.

She squeezed her eyes shut; causing more tears to fall as her knees slowly gave way beneath her, causing her to land on the floor with a 'thud'. Seifer had left the door ajar and heard him tell Kairi and Sora good-bye before walking out the front door. As his engine got quieter, signaling him really leaving she let out a choked wail. And she went back to the position she was in at the playground.

Why did _he_ have to mess everything up? Why did _he __**still**_have so much control over her, even though _months_ had passed? She didn't understand it. She wanted to, and she wanted to prove Seifer wrong. She was still the 'old Namine' she just changed a little bit. Her mind hadn't even let her comprehend him telling her he loved her yet. But it on the list of things to think about. Along with practically everything else.

Namine felt like her head might explode with all this information and complications. She couldn't process everything normally. And suddenly everything got blurry and the last thing she remembered was Kairi's worried face as she screamed at someone something Namine didn't understand.

_Hopefully, this is death. Because I don't know how much more of this I can take. _

**A/N: -sighs- Apparently, I lied to everyone. Including myself… I wanted this chapter to have some of Axel and Roxas in it, but apparently, my Muse was against the idea and wants it for next chapter… So, I gave in. But, on a happier note, there will be more Axel and Roxas NEXT chapter. I promise this time! XD **

**And yes, Namine had QUITE a personality change during this chapter. But, honestly, considering her circumstances… It was pretty much normal for her. Hopefully, this is the most we see her cry for the rest of this story… **

**Hope you guys actually GOT this chapter and hopefully will find it in your hearts to leave me a review. I basically LIVE off these things, guys. I can't exist without them. **

**Love to all – **

**~A.R.13**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Okay, chapter fourteen is up! My little vanish-ment from this site is explained at the end of this chapter, so I'm not gonna repeat myself. C:**

**And thank to my reviewers; **_r a a i n, RoseRiku, Vanitas, PoupuFruity,_ **and**_ Larxene12! _**Sadly, there weren't as many reviews as there was past chapters. I know we can do better guys! Although, I don't really deserve all that much seen as how I tend to neglect this story… . Shame on me. **

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. Oh, how I wish I did though…**

Axel sat down on the coach, twiddling his thumbs as he waited for Roxas to arrive.

He and Demyx had set up a kind of 'double-date' between them both and Roxas and Zexion. The steely-blue eyed boy was already here, and as Axel could tell, was getting a 'greeting' from Demyx in the blonde's room. Axel tried to block it out, but boy did that kid have a set of lungs on him.

He shot up and practically ran to the door, swinging it open roughly to see Roxas waiting for him on the other side. Axel could barely contain his anger at what he saw.

Roxas was a wreck. His hair was flat and slightly greasy, his eyes were red and swollen, and they were also blood-shot, proving that, yet again, Roxas hardly got any sleep last night. At school that week Axel could tell Roxas was falling apart, but faked being okay for everyone else, but he couldn't fake it with Axel. He knew what was going on, and was pissed that he couldn't do anything to stop it. He just hoped that this little thing might brighten the blonde's day a little. That was all he _could_ do.

As he worked on un-clenching the fist that had formed once he saw Roxas' new 'look' that had taken over for the past week, he moved aside and gestured for him to come in. Once Roxas had cleared the doorway, Axel slammed the door shut a little too hard, creating a loud bang to sound throughout the area. Roxas didn't even jump.

He heard Demyx and Zexion go quiet and a minute later, when the two were sitting down on the couch, just staring at the floor, Demyx peeked his head out the door. "Oh, hey, Roxas! Axel, we'll be out in a minute." He said before closing the door and Axel thought he heard giggling that could have only come from the mullet toting senior inside.

_Just as long as they don't do anything weird in front of Roxas I don't care what they do in Demyx's room. _He thought to himself as he gave the blond beside him a side-ways glance, Roxas still wearing that stone face that had plastered itself on since he came back to school on Monday.

And to make matters worse, Namine and Kairi were gone, which meant one of Roxas' friends was now gone, and Sora's girlfriend was, too. Which meant, knowing Roxas, he would be mourning for his brother as well as himself. Even though, Axel knew Sora and Kairi talked on the phone all the time and had agreed to weekly visits, so their relationship had maintained itself.

It seemed like everyone was leaving Roxas and Axel made a silent promise to himself that he would never leave him. He couldn't imagine leaving his best friend, not after all the shit they've been through together. It was too hard to think about.

"So, uh, do you have any other plans this weekend?" Axel asked, trying to lessen the tension that had taken over the room while they waited for the couple to emerge from the bedroom.

"No." Came Roxas' dead reply.

All Axel could do was nod in response. He didn't understand how he could make conversation with someone who only replied with one-word sentences. It was close to impossible, but Axel wouldn't give up. He couldn't. This was Roxas, his best friend. He had to snap out of it.

"Oh, well, how about you see if you can sleep over tonight?" Axel suggested his expression and tone hopeful. Maybe he could get the blonde to actually talk about his problems instead of just keeping them bottled up.

He saw Roxas shrug out of his peripheral vision. Looks like he'll have to work a little harder to get a full sentence out of the kid.

"Are you going to ask your dad or not?" He pressed, leaning closer to Roxas.

"I guess."

Two words. Progress.

"Cool." Axel said.

The door to Demyx's room creaked open as he and Zexion emerged, Zexion's clothes were positioned as though they were never touched, and Demyx's was not. He had wrinkle, upon wrinkle in his pants and his shirt was on inside-out. Axel smirked at how Zexion looked. Although, his clothes were perfect, his face was not. He was flushed and his lips were red and swollen and on the side of his neck, a barely-visible hickey could be seen peeking out of the side of his shirt. At least the kid was quiet while he got it on, unlike Demyx.

"Alright, I'm gonna set everything up. Demyx, you can come help me while Zexion and Roxas sit on the couch." He announced once they had walked towards him and Roxas.

Demyx moaned and grabbed Zexion hand, leading him to the couch. "Do I have to, Axel? I wanna spend some time with my Zexy." He whined.

Axel rolled his eyes. "It'll only take a minute."

Demyx groaned again and followed Axel into Axel's room to help him set up the Wii in the living room.

"So, I hear you're gonna try and get Roxas to sleep over." Demyx began as he carried a small box filled with Wii games. "Are you gonna try and complete the list?"

"No. It's not like that. I just wanna help him out." He replied as he grabbed the Wii itself and its cables.

"Wait," Demyx said in hushed voice, "You're gonna give up on the list?"

Axel glared at him. "No. I'm just…taking my time." He said as he moved into the living room to connect everything.

"Right." He heard Demyx say sarcastically behind him.

"So, what are we playing?" Zexion asked.

"Mario Kart." Axel said, smirking to himself. He was the king of Mario Kart. They didn't stand a chance.

"And who do you plan on being, Axel? Peach?" Demyx asked, taking out the game from the box he held and moved to insert it.

Axel grabbed the four Wii controllers he bought and handed one to each of them, glaring at Demyx once he handed the blonde his. "No. Mario."

Demyx rolled his eyes. "Fire-crazed horn-dog."

"You know it." Axel winked at him.

The game took longer than Axel thought it would. Roxas backed out after the second round and simply watched them, not moving or making comments like he normally would. Axel didn't win every time; it was mostly due to him paying more attention to the catatonic blonde next to him than the actual game. But he did win eight out of ten games. Good enough for him.

After they all stopped Demyx and Zexion claimed they were going to see a movie. But from the way Zexion was blushing, Axel thought they were actually going to a hotel room. Although, that could just be his perverted mind doing all the thinking and not his actual brain.

Once they left, he rounded on Roxas.

"So, what's going on with you? Anything interesting?" Axel asked, trying to keep Roxas talking. He just couldn't stand the silence. Roxas wasn't one for silence.

Roxas shrugged.

"Sounds fun." Axel said sarcastically, he was beginning to be annoyed.

"Alright, Roxas, here's the deal." Axel started. "You need to open up. Talk to someone about what's happening. You remember the last time this shit with your head started happening? You ended up in the next state calling me at two in the morning, balling your eyes out because you don't remember how you got there. Do you want that shit to start again?"

Silence.

"Well? Do you?"

Roxas looked at him slowly, tears gathering, his face crumpling up. "No. No, I don't, Axel. But I don't know how to stop it! Talking about it won't help! I can't push my problems onto everyone else! They're my issues! I'll deal with them on my own. So, just leave me alone."

Axel was stunned. Roxas never really acted like this. At least, not towards him. Even with the whole thing about Namine, who was his other best friend, made him yell at him like this. It was like a punch to the gut.

"But I want to help you, Roxy." Axel muttered softly. He got closer to the blonde who seemed to shrink away from him.

"Roxas, I _want _to help you. No, I _need_ to help you. You're my best friend and I-," he cut himself off.

What was he about to say? His mind wouldn't help him think about it, all he knew was that Roxas was suffering and the reason wasn't something Axel could fix. It wasn't like he could go and hunt down Roxas' mother and drag her back and she'd automatically be a good mother. No, this was something that was entirely out of Axel's control, and it killed him knowing he might just have to watch as Roxas wasted away inside his head.

"You what?" Roxas asked his blue eyes wide and shining with tears that had yet to fall.

"I just don't want this to hold you back from everything that's important." The words tumbling out of his mouth before his brain ever registered them. Talk about a Dr. Phil moment.

Roxas scoffed. "Yeah, well, I think it's a little late for that."

Now, Axel was getting pissed. All thoughts of gently helping him through this were completely gone and replaced with a more angry approach of things. Just his style.

"Would you just stop it with the self-pity already?" Axel yelled. "My parents are _dead!_ You hear that? _Dead!_ And I can't do anything about that! You have your father still, even if your mom's being a complete bitch right now, but at least you have him. I have no one! Do you have _any _idea how much I want to just have them yell at me for all the shit I get into at school? Do you have any idea how much I want to ask them for help and when I do I realize their never gonna answer me cause their _in the ground?_ But do you see me wallowing in this disgusting thing you've got going on right now? No. I deal with it. Maybe not in the best way, but at least I don't just sit around everyday, looking like a freakin' zombie!"

Roxas' eyes narrowed. "No, you go around screwing anything with two legs and willing. And then, you destroy everything they've ever had in life and leave them in the dust while you go find another poor soul who thinks you're a sad little orphan with no home."

That struck home. But it was true, and now that everything was laid out about what he's done to so many people, Roxas' way of dealing with things made him look like a selfless saint instead of the heartless bastard Axel really was.

Axel saw Roxas sober up and the look of guilt filled up his face as he leaned forward and hugged Axel, who was immobile since Roxas' little outburst.

"I'm sorry, Axel. I didn't mean it. Really I didn't. I was just upset and didn't want to hear the truth. You're right, I need to just suck it up and get over it."

Axel could feel the wetness of Roxas's tears soaking his shirt, but he didn't care, he held Roxas tight to his chest, burrowing himself into the younger boy's neck. "Roxas…" He groaned.

Axel thought back to Demyx's comment about the list and the fact that Demyx wouldn't be back for a while inched its way toward the front part of Axel's brain. No one would interrupt them. No one could stop them. But Axel didn't want the money anymore. He just wanted Roxas' comfort. He needed it. Everything was just too much now, and Axel only knew one way to make it go away, even if it's just for a few hours.

Axel jerked back roughly and captured Roxas' mouth with his, causing the blonde to yelp in surprise allowing Axel to thrust his tongue in his mouth, causing them both to moan. Axel leaned forward so that they were lying on the couch with Roxas on bottom. He kissed him until Roxas broke away, struggling for breath, while Axel traveled down his neck, nipping and sucking at certain spots, enjoying the noises Roxas was making as he wriggled beneath him.

But a thought occurred to him as he, unwillingly, lifted his head so his eyes met Roxas'. "If you want me to stop just say so."

Roxas' eyes looked glazed over as he replied, "No. I don't want you to stop. I don't ever want you to stop."

Axel smirked at him and continued on his kissing trip downward as he stripped the blonde of all clothing, quickly undoing his own.

And no one was there to stop them.

WITH SORA

Okay, everything was going perfectly to plan. Now, if he could stop shaking and not being nervous for her arrival everything would be absolutely fantastic.

Sora was very close to hyperventilating as he waited for Kairi to show up in her little pink Bug at their 'spot'. He was going to do it today. He had everything set. He had the ring nestled in a navy blue velvet box, he had her parents' approval, or as much as he would get. AND he had enough money for her to stay with him and Roxas and their father, so she could move back with him. Yup, he was happy boy, except for the nerves. The nerves would get to him.

He was busy flipping the box over and over again to notice Kairi's Volkswagen parked next to his car.

"What's that?"

Sora jumped and quickly hid the box behind him as he looked at his girlfriend-soon-to-be-fiancé' looking back at him.

"Oh, uh, nothing. Why don't we sit down?" He gestured to the grass below them. The meadow, he thought, was the perfect place for is proposal. There weren't many people around, so she was pressured into saying yes, and if she didn't say yes he would only feel like an idiot to himself and her and not millions of potential strangers. And it was also romantic…ish.

"Okay…" She looked at him curiously but sat down beside him.

He was now smiling like the fool he was but he didn't care now. His nerves had lessened, so he didn't feel sick to his stomach anymore, nor did he see those little colorful dots people get from staring at the sun too long.

"Do you remember the first time we spoke?" He asked her, curious if she remembered it as vividly as he did.

She laughed. "Yes! Oh my god, you couldn't form a single sentence. I was the one who ended up asking _you_ to go see a movie cause you wouldn't stop blushing or stuttering."

He chuckled. "Yup. I wasn't exactly 'cool with the ladies' then."

She raised an eyebrow, smirking at him. "And you are now?"

"Only with you." He said, while he brain was screaming, 'CHEESE ALERT! CHEESE ALERT!'

"Better be."

They sat in silence for a while as he tried to form the words to ask her to marry him.

"Sora?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember my birthday a couple months ago?" She asked timidly.

Sora couldn't help the blush that formed on his cheeks. Their first time together. "Yeah, how could I forget?"

She sighed. "I'm sorry it happened under those circumstances."

He looked at the grass. He was too.

It was the same day Namine came home crying, sputtering out something about Axel dumping her and leaving her at a party with drunks. Kairi had gone ballistic and was going to march over to Axel's house and kill him, she was absolutely serious about that statement at the time, but Sora stopped her and once everything had calmed down, they had a conversation about how that could happen to them, and one thing led to another and before they knew what was happening it was a few hours later and they were both naked on her bed, exhausted from the sex. He wished it had happened for a happier reason, not because they were both afraid of losing the other eventually. But it did. And he would never take it back.

She shifted her feet. "Well, do you remember how long ago that was?"

He looked at her confused. "Not the exact date, no. Why?"

She took a deep breath and blurted out, "Sora, I think I'm pregnant."

Time seemed to stop. Sora repeated what she said over in his head, trying to wrap his mind around the idea. It was only three months ago, and he couldn't remember whether they used a condom or not. Probably not, by the way it looked, everything happened so fast then.

"A-Are you sure?" He asked, looking directly at her, holding her gaze.

She nodded. "Almost positive. I only did a couple tests and I haven't had my period for at least two months, maybe more I don't know. Everything points to it."

"Well, what about morning sickness?" He asked searching for a way this couldn't be true. He wanted a baby with her, sure, but not right now. They still had school and everything to worry about. They weren't ready for a kid, not yet.

She rolled her eyes. "Sora, that's not for another couple months."

"Oh."

Again, they sat in silence.

"Do you not want it?" Kairi asked meekly.

He looked at her and played with the velvet box in his hand and knew the answer.

He smirked at her and scooted closer to her, displaying the box in his hands and admiring the way her face lit up with surprise and delight. "I can do better."

He slowly opened it, showing her the diamond ring that had cost him nearly all of his college funds and couple of his possessions sold on eBay, and grinned wildly at her.

"Kairi," he began, "Will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

Her scorching kiss was his answer and he couldn't have hoped for a better one.

And time number two commenced.

**A/N: I'm done it! Finally! And yeah, this whole chapter was a big emotional mess and people are probably screaming at me and ripping out their hair as they read it… I know. But it had to be done.**

And I'm really sorry for my prolonged absence. I've been grounded for what seems like forever and I only just got off a couple days ago. Hopefully, you guys don't view this chapter as a rip-off. And hopefully it wasn't too short…

**Now, be nice to me and REVIEW!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hey, guys! I'm sorry it took me for forever to update on this story. I've just now figured out how I'm going to do everything with everyone and I've dealt with writer's block and family drama (the horrors) and now the updates will hopefully be more common than uncommon. (Kinda like Pokémon! XD) Yes, I know, I'm a nerd…**

**And thanks to; **_r a a i n, RoseRiku, Riku's Angel, PaopuFruity, Larxene12, _**and **_Friend _**for reviewing the last chapter! I think it's awesome of you guys to do so! So, thanks! :D**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own KH or FF… *sob* Why do I have to keep on writing this? Oh, yeah… So I don't get sued… -.- **

**The To Do List**

**Chapter 15**

**

* * *

**_Ring! Ring, Ring! Ring, Ring, Ring!_

It was three in the morning and Leon did not like being woken up. Especially at three in the morning.

He stumbled out of bed, mumbling the entire time as he walked towards the phone. He picked it up and didn't say 'hello', instead he grumbled, "This had better be a life or death situation…"

He heard harsh breathing on the other end followed by, "L-Leon?"

Yuffie.

His eyes got wider and he was instantly fully awake. "Yuffie?" He could hear her light sobbing in-between each ragged breath, "What's wrong?"

"Can," _breath_ "Can you," _breath_ "Come get me?"

"Where are you?"

"H-Home." She sobbed louder, her voice taking on a different tone, almost like she had a cold.

"Yuffie… Do you know what time it is?" He asked.

He didn't know what was going on. The last he heard from her was after the party and after that he got yet another nasty phone call from her father telling him to stay away from her if he knew what was good for him. He obliged but not because the old man threatened him, he was worried about Yuffie.

He had a hunch that her several mysterious bumps, bruises, and sometimes fractured bones that would pop up out of no-where, were the result of her father drinking and taking his anger out on his daughter. He would have done something about it, but he had no proof and he didn't want to give Yuffie's father any more reason to abuse her, so he kept his distance. And her father was bound to notice her making a phone call at three in the morning.

"I know. I know! I'm sorry, I just," _breath_ "Don't know what to," _breath _"to do!" He heard her groan and curse before she continued. "It's just… there's a lot of blood, and I think my arms broken… I would've called Aerith, but I don't want her to get in trouble because of me with her parents for calling so late, and you were the only person I could think of that would actually come."

"Whoa, what? A lot of _blood_? Yuffie, what the hell _happened_?" He pushed. She sounded in pain now that he registered the fact that she was injured. At first, he thought she was just out of breath, but now…

"I just," _groan_ "fell down some stairs, being clumsy," _breath _"Again. You know me." She tried to laugh, but it got cut off and she went into a coughing fit.

He waited for a little while for the coughing to subside, but when it did, she didn't say anything. After the sudden silence he started to get antsy once it stretched out longer than he was comfortable with.

"Yuffie?"

No answer.

"Yuffie?" He yelled, slightly panicking now.

Still no answer.

Maybe the 'lot of blood' had caused her to pass out. Maybe she was struggling to breath, maybe _someone_ came home and disconnected the phone and was beating her again.

"Dammit!" He hissed to himself while he pulled on jeans while still holding the phone with his shoulder. "Yuffie, I'll be over in a sec! Hang on!" He hoped that she could hear him, but he didn't count on it.

He hung up the phone to throw on a shirt and raced to his keys before flying out the door, not bothering to lock it, and flung himself in his truck, spinning out of his driveway and towards Yuffie's house.

On the way there he was in full panic mode and was glad that there was little traffic at three in the morning. And the lights weren't as much of a problem either. So, instead of the five minutes he planned on, he made it there in three.

Once he was there, he turned off the engine and jumped out, charging into Yuffie's house, taking the stairs two at a time, not caring what he knocked over in the process of searching for her. He soon found her in the middle of her room, passed out, by her bed. And she was right. There _was _a lot of blood.

"Yuffie!" He cried.

He ran over to her, picked her up and checked for a pulse. It was there, but just barely, and not regular at all. The beats were sporadic and faint. He glanced at her face and noticed that her nose was probably broken and her arm was _definitely _broken, it was obvious with the way the bone was poking at the skin, not quite breaking through, and her face was cut up and bruised, which was where most of the blood was coming from. That and the back of her head, which looked like it was smashed against a wall.

_Fell down the stairs my ass_.

"Yuffie!" He yelled at her, hoping she would wake up but she didn't.

"Son of a bitch." He complained as he gripped her legs in one arm and her upper abdomen in the other and carried her out and into his truck.

"I don't care that you don't like hospitals," he said to himself as he set her in the passenger seat and buckled her in, making sure her arms and feet were away from the edge before slamming the door shut and jogging over to the driver's side to drive to the ER. "I'm taking you, whether you like or not." He mumbled before pulling out of her driveway and speeding towards the hospital.

He threw a few side-glances at her while he drove, to see if she would regain consciousness, but each time he would turn back to the road disappointed. Looks like her father really messed her up bad this time and he was doing nothing but beating himself up for it. It was probably his fault he ended up like this anyway.

Once he got there he rushed her in and yelled for someone. Three nurses and a security guard rushed over and placed her on a gurney, asking him what happened as he followed them into a room where there were about five different machines to which they all rushed to attach Yuffie to. She still hadn't moved.

"So you don't know what happened _at all_?" One of the nurses urged, while she checked Yuffie's eyes to see if they were dilating or not. "She's responsive!"

They were all yelling out different things to each other about what the machines were saying. Leon just wanted to know if Yuffie was alright.

"Look, is she gonna be okay?"

One of the nurses looked at him briefly before nodding. "Yes, I think she'll be fine. Now I need you to tell me what happened."

He fell silent. Leon had no clue if Yuffie's father was really involved, and he couldn't go around telling everybody it was him without solid proof. They'd just think he was trying to sabotage her father. They wouldn't believe him.

"She fell down some stairs…" He felt stupid and it was almost painful to use her make-shift excuse, but it was the best he could come up with on short notice.

"Stairs?" The nurse looked at him doubtfully.

He nodded. "Yup. Stairs."

"Alright, I'm going to have to ask you to wait in the waiting room while we call her parents. Can you give us their number?"

He nodded again before giving them her father's number. "So, you'll tell me when she's awake, right?"

The nurse glanced at him wearily. "Are you family?"

"No."

"Husband?"

"No."

She shook her head. "I can't then, I'm sorry. Family and spouses come first. Once her father has seen her I'm sure he'll let you see her." She told him before walking away with the others and began pushing Yuffie's gurney towards another area in the hospital.

Leon growled low as he slowly made his way to the waiting room. "I doubt he'll let me even in the same _room_ as her, let alone actually talk to her." He mumbled.

Leon waited for what seemed like ages. He could hear the news on the TV loud and clear - it was a news story about a new break in a four and half month old rape case. They were getting more information on the likely suspects, who happened to be in the same town as he was in right now. But it held little importance to Leon. He hadn't moved and he was watching the automatic doors like a hawk, waiting for Yuffie's bastard of a father to come striding through any minute.

Which did not happen until an hour later. There he was, staggering through, acting his role of the loving, doting, worried father as he approached the desk and told them who he was. Leon glared at him as Yuffie's father was led through the double doors and probably to Yuffie's room.

Leon clenched his fists into tight balls and ground his teeth together in an effort to calm himself down. He wanted to burst in and yank her father away from Yuffie and make him eat the sidewalk, but he couldn't. At least, not here.

And then, the bastard came back into the waiting room, followed by a couple security guards.

"That's him!" He pointed at Leon, smirking at him as they moved towards him.

Leon shot up in his seat and yelled at them, "What the hell?" before they told him to turn around and put his hands behind his back.

As they cuffed him, and turned him around, he was faced with Yuffie's father who looked angry. "I told you if laid another hand on her, you would regret it." He said venomously.

"What?" Leon roared at him. "_You're _the one who beats her senseless all the time! _You _should be arrested, _not me!_"

"Alright, enough outta you." The officer who was holding his cuffed wrists said as he dragged him towards the door.

Leon struggled a bit with the cop but stopped when they told him they'd tase him if he didn't stop.

"This is bullshit!" He yelled as the cop shoved him in the car waiting for him, and closed the door. He kicked at the passenger seat and remained silent after that. It was raining again, the sky displaying just how he felt and then some.

He wondered briefly what would happen to Yuffie once her father found out that she had called him for help. But the thought was fleeting because he now had to worry about getting him out of this mess and he knew exactly who his phone call would be made to.

* * *

WITH XION

As Xion threw on a shirt for her first date with Riku she couldn't help but wonder if this was what she wanted to wear. Which was something she _never _did. She chose her clothes from how clean they were and didn't care how she looked. But now, all of a sudden, she was second-guessing herself. It scared her a bit.

But eventually she got over it and stayed with the black tank-top, stone-washed jeans and her black heels with the huge buckle by the toes. At least she wouldn't have to walk there. Zack was bringing her to the place where Riku wanted to eat with her, which was great because those heels were _very _hard to walk in, but she didn't want him to think that she was some bum but where her black boots all the time.

The heels had only been worn twice before, once at her grandmother's birthday party and then next at Leon's party last year, which she regretted because she had a blister the size of Texas on her heel after that.

After she fixed her hair in the mirror for the third time, eventually deciding to leave it alone, Zack came knocked and came in her room, looking apologetic.

"What?" She asked, looking at him still in his PJ's.

"Well, the boss told me I didn't have to come in today, so I'm planning on sleeping in today. So, you'll have to walk to your date. Sorry." He told her, leaning one arm against the door frame.

She looked at him in disbelief. "Are you _kidding_ me? I can't walk in _these!_" She thrust her foot out to show him the heels. "I'd _die!_"

He shrugged. "Then change."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "No." She huffed and flopped down on her bed, before she got an idea, a wild idea at that.

"Can I drive myself?" She asked, smiling widely at him.

"No." Zack said with that tone he always used when he was in 'dad mode'.

She bounded off her bed and grabbed his shoulders, pleading with her eyes as best she could. "Please? _Please_, Zack? I won't crash it, I promise. And I'll be getting my license pretty soon anyway."

He groaned and tossed an arm over his eyes, and it took her a couple moments to notice he wasn't wearing a shirt, just bottoms. "And uh, put on a shirt." She told him, backing up.

He lowered his arm away from his eyes and looked at her teasingly. "What? Is little Xion intimidated by my naked chest? Wait… are you… _blushing?_" He asked incredulously.

She threw her pillow at him and yelled, "No! Now go away, I'll walk…" She grumbled throwing off her heels and throwing on her boots. Riku wouldn't care, would he?

Zack chuckled, "Whatever you say, Xion." He walked back to his room and closed the door behind him. Xion sighed. This was not going to be fun.

The place where Riku wanted her to meet him at was about five miles away and she wasn't a fast walker. And from what her cell phone said… She had about twenty minutes to get there. Which was _not_ happening.

"Great. Just great." She muttered to herself as she moved over to her stash of money she kept in her underwear drawer. "First date, and I have to take a taxi to get there on time… he'll think I'm cheap."

She grabbed an extra ten, hoping the driver could split it and shoved in her pocket along with the fifty she'd stashed in there for the food earlier. Then she took out her cell phone again and dialed a taxi company who told her she'd be waiting a while. She rolled her eyes and as she walked to go wait outside, she phoned Riku, not liking that she'd have to tell him she'd probably be late for their date.

She waited patiently for him to pick up once she was outside of her house. It was cloudy outside but still remarkably warm. As long as it wasn't humid or raining, Xion didn't care what the weather was like.

"Hello?"

She couldn't stop the smile that formed once she heard his voice. "Hey, Riku. It's Xion."

"Um, hi. What? You couldn't wait until you got here to talk to me? Miss me that much?" He teased her.

She smirked. "Right. You wish. Well, I just wanted to let you know I might be late. Turns out Zack didn't need to go to work today so he ditched giving me a ride and I have to take a taxi… And I might be waiting for them awhile."

"Oh. No problem. I can wait." He said.

"You sure? Cause we can re-schedule if you want…" She didn't really _want _to, but the offer just slipped from her mouth.

"Nah. It's fine. See you in a few then."

"Right. Bye."

She could hear him chuckling a bit. "Bye, Xion." And she was met with a dial-tone.

She sighed as she shut her phone and slipped in the pocket that wasn't holding any money and leaned against the garage door to wait for the taxi.

Xion waited exactly forty minutes for the taxi to show and on top of that, it was a creepy old man who continuously hit on her throughout the entire ride. It was beginning to get annoying that, even after she said she was going to a date and she was underage, he _still _wouldn't let up. He just flirted with her mercilessly and didn't seem to find anything wrong with it, and Xion was surprised she remained calm and polite to him when normally she would've told him to shut up and just drive. But she didn't. Which just made her stress more keeping it all bottled up. Although, he was a speeder though so she made it there in about three minutes, which was fast because of all the lights they 'passed'. She got out and gave him the ten and told him to keep the change… A five dollar tip ought to keep him happy.

She walked to the restaurant which had tables inside and outside. The outside looked more like a café with the wrought iron fence surrounding it, the entrance door was through the café and she could instantly see Riku. His silver hair stood out among the brunette's and blondes that were there. She rushed through the café and was stopped by a waiter when she was almost to the door that leads to the outside area.

"Xion?"

She spun around and was confronted with one of Zack's old high school friends, Rude. "Oh, hi, Rude. I didn't know you worked here now too…" She always felt awkward around Rude. And it was especially weird to see him without his sun glasses on. And with an apron…

He shrugged. "Well, gotta work, and this was the only place who'd hire me, what with the whole 'record' and all. But, anyway, I thought you were in some sort of trouble."

She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "What? Why?"

"Zack told me he couldn't come to work today because you had gotten into some trouble. So, did you give him the slip or what?"

"Wait a minute… _Zack_ took time off of work? I thought your boss let him off today?"

Rude shook his head. "Nope. He asked for the time. Now, back to my original question. What happened? Some trouble at school? Cops?"

Xion scoffed, shaking her head at disbelief that her brother would lie to her and his 'friend' about getting off of work. But what she was really concerned about was why. Why would Zack lie to any of them? It's not like he didn't deserve the break or anything, so why make up stories? What was he doing that he didn't want anyone to catch on about?

She was brought out of her trance when she heard someone say her name behind her.

She whirled around to come face to face with Riku. "Hey, I called to you, like eight times. You okay?" He asked, looking at her with concern.

She shook her head. "No. I'm fine." She turned back to Rude. "And I'm not in any trouble. Zack just wanted some time off I guess." _Liar. He's up to something and you know it._

"Oh." He replied. "Well, I'd better get back to work then… tell him I said 'Hi' and make sure he comes in tomorrow."

Xion nodded. "Will do. See ya, Rude."

"See ya."

She turned back to Riku who looked even more confused than before. "What was that about you being in trouble? Or _not_ being in trouble I should say…"

"Nothing. It's nothing. We are we seated?" She asked, trying to change the subject. She didn't really want to get too much into it when it was supposed to be their first date. She wanted it to be somewhat normal.

"Well, I don't really believe you, but I'll leave it alone for now." He said before grabbed her around her waist and pulling her against him. She could feel his body heat through her own clothes and could smell his shampoo. It was manly, like the rest of him. She had a spontaneous desire to sniff his hair. Which had her blushing at the thought of his reaction to that.

He moved low to her ear so that she could feel his hot breath on her neck; goose bumps erupted as a result. "But you _will_ tell me eventually, right? I don't want any secrets between us anymore, Xion."

She gulped and nodded. "Y-yeah." She managed to say before he released her and led her to the outside and a table near the gate.

"Well, I didn't really know what you wanted, but I wanted it to be ready for when you got here so I just ordered water and the grilled chicken sandwich." He told her as they sat down and she saw the sandwich laying on a plate with a glass of water, already full and a pitcher of water in the middle of the table for refills. "You _do _like chicken, right? Cause I can get you something else if you want…"

She smiled at him. "No, it looks good. Better than the mac and cheese I've been having lately." She said before sipping her water and taking a small bite of the sandwich.

The truth was, she wanted to guzzle the water and wolf down the sandwich but Riku was there, and she didn't want him to know that, when it came to drinking and eating, she was a like a starved thirsty child that hadn't seen either thing in days.

So, she nibbled and sipped and couldn't help but feel awkward when all Riku would do was stare at her. Eventually, she got sick of it and asked him about it.

"Riku… what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He countered.

"It looks like you're trying out for the creeper part in a play. Don't you have anything better to do than watch me eat?"

He smirked at her. "No."

She rolled her eyes. "Figures."

And by the time she had finished everything, including the pitcher, they still hadn't even had a real conversation.

As they moved to leave, Riku stopped her in front of the exit and lead her to a couple of benches on the side of the restaurant, away from any eavesdroppers.

"Xion… be honest with me. Do you honestly want to go out with _me_, or were you just going along with it the other day?" He asked her, his eyes burning holes in her head with the intensity of his stare.

"What? No! What would make you think that?" She said, surprised yet again today. Today was apparently _full_ of surprises. She hated surprises.

He shrugged. "I dunno. Just, you act like you don't want to be here and it just has me wondering if it's the place or the food or… me."

"Well, I have to admit, the place is full of rich snobs, but the food is great and the person that I'm with right now is even better."

_Wow, when did I turn into a 'romantic-comedy'? _

He looked at her in disbelief. "Are you feeling okay? Cause the girl I asked out a couple days ago seems to have been replaced by some romantic person I've never met." He smirked again.

"Right. Well, I had a great time, Riku. I'll let Xion know what she's missing." She teased back.

"Oh, no. You're not leaving yet."

"Oh, I'm not? Who says?"

"Me. C'mere." He said, pulling her forward and crashing their lips together in a heated kiss. Once they parted, and their breathing back in order, Riku said he'd walk her home. She smiled at the offer and took his hand, and for once, she actually smiled for the rest of the day.

_Nothing could ruin this day for me. Nothing.

* * *

_

**A/N: Okay, since it's done now, and I'm pretty sure you guys were bored with this one. I was bored writing it. -.- But all of this, **_every last bit, _**is uber important. So remember the smallest details on this one, okay? So, now, I've set all the major plot points for the story and now the 'real' drama begins… XD**

**REVIEW!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Alrighty, chapter 16! I'm so excited for this because this chapter surrounds Demyx/Zexion and Seifer/Namine which I have been DYING to write for AGES! And now I have! Hopefully you guys like it as much as I do…**

**And thank you to; **_RoseRiku, Friend, Thanatos Angelos Girl, Riku's Angel,_**and** _Ai Enma_ **for reviewing the last chapter! Thanks guys! You're reviews make me smile! **

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own KH or FF… **

**The To Do List**

**Chapter 16

* * *

**

Demyx was happy. Man, what an understatement. Demyx was beaming with happiness so much and often, he felt his cheeks grow more sore with each passing day but he didn't stop himself from grinning. He couldn't. And all because of Zexion.

He didn't really understand what it was about the boy that had him practically gravitating toward him constantly, it just…happened. In a little over a week, Demyx took it upon himself to learn everything he could about the freshman and he'd done that, except for one thing.

He'd never been to Zexion's house. Zexion was over his and Axel's apartment constantly, almost every day it seemed, but he'd never been over Zexion's house. He's met his parents when they all went out for ice cream when Zexion told them who he was dating.

They had taken it pretty well, considering his parents' reactions when he told them he was gay, and their only concern was Demyx's age. They didn't ask anything else, just if they were sure considering the age difference. Demyx swore up and down to them that he would never _ever_ hurt Zexion and Zexion's mother had actually burst into tears and hugged him, saying she couldn't imagine a better man for her son and she was thankful that he was a gentleman. He gave her a reassuring pat on the back, unable to think of what else to do and after that they chatted about school and what college he was thinking of going to.

It was like they were the parents he always wanted. Accepting. Willing to trust their son with his own decisions. His parents never did that. They barely let him out of the house, which left him with very few ways to rebel when his hormones kicked in. So, he shaved and cut his hair into a mullet and listened to eighties and seventies music, blasting it so he couldn't hear their constant fighting over what was best for him. And one day, he just got sick of it, especially when they tried to hook him up with a 'nice girl' who, in fact, was a slut and that was when he told them he was gay, hoping to get them to see he'd never be who they wanted him to be. He was kicked out that same day.

But he didn't dwell on the past. He just used it to further himself in the future. And Zexion was his future; there was no doubt in his mind that he was going to eventually marry him. But he'd wait until Zexion got out of high school and into a good college. He'd plan it out to be the most romantic thing to ever exist and then they can watch 'Titanic' and 'RENT' and 'Moulin Rouge' over and over again, and Zexion can hold as he cried at every single one.

Thinking about all of that made Demyx want to call Zexion, to hear his voice if nothing else, so he pulled out his phone and pushed '6' to speed dial Zexion.

"'lo?"

"Zexion?" It sounded like the fourteen-year-old, but not at the same time.

"Yeah… Who's this?"

"Demyx." He tried not to sound hurt that Zexion didn't recognize his voice, but his voice was a bit shaky.

"O-oh! D-Demyx! Hi!"

Demyx was getting confused, Zexion was _never_ this flustered. He always seemed to have a calm and cool attitude with everything, no matter the problem. And now, Demyx calls him, and he can barely form a single sentence without stuttering.

"Yeah, it's me, Zexion. Hey, you wanna hang out for a bit?" He asked, biting his lip, hoping he would say yes.

He heard Zexion rummaging through something as he spoke. "Uh, I can't, Demyx. I have some studying to do. AP classes, you know. Maybe some other time." His tone was weird and he sounded out of breath.

"Zexy, are you okay?" Demyx asked worriedly.

"Yup! Perfectly okay, Dem. See you at school!"

_Dial-tone._

Demyx slowly closed his phone and continued walking through the town, thinking about Zexion with every step.

He's never said 'no' to spending time with him. This was a first. And 'studying' wasn't a problem seen as how Zexion was most likely smarter than the school's smartest senior. So why wouldn't he want to spend time with him?

_I could go to his house to see… Surprise him and maybe catch him in the act…_

The act of what? What was Zexion supposed to be doing that Demyx wouldn't like? Demyx trusted Zexion. Zexion wouldn't hurt him…right?

_Only one way to find out for sure._

Demyx spun around and marched toward Zexion's house, determined to at least be calm and not get excited or angsty before he even got there. It could just be Zexion studying – _lies_ – or even surprising him with something.

Zexion's house was only about five minutes away from the town square and Demyx was headed there to go home in the first place before he decided to call Zexion, so it only took him about three and half because he was walking so fast in his anxiety.

As he walked up the porch steps, Demyx's heart was pounding so hard he felt like it would burst from his chest at any minute. He could feel it in his throat as he knocked on the door and received no answer. Well, he knew Zexion at least was home so he tried to knob and was surprised to see it wasn't locked. In this type of neighborhood, you need to keep doors and windows locked all the time, but apparently Zexion's parents forgot that.

He let himself in and glanced around. Zexion's house was amazing. The design of it all was perfect, the outside of the house not giving the inside away at all. It was like a house transformation scene. But Demyx couldn't linger and admire the house any longer.

"Zexion?" He called out, listening as his voice gave a slight echo throughout the house.

His head snapped up as he heard banging and slamming on the ceiling.

"Zexion!" He called out again, and when he didn't get an answer he started looking around wildly for the stairs. Once he found them he took them two a time and was instantly met by a door two feet from the top of the stairs and threw open the door.

His eyes widened slightly and his breathing hitched.

"Oh, Demyx!" Zexion cried as he stood up, the shoe lace still tied tightly around his arm, but he dropped the needle on the floor.

Demyx blinked and took in the room. It was pretty simple, a bed, a desk littered with books, but the two bottles on the desk, one was empty the other was full of some kind of liquid was what caught Demyx's attention.

"Zexion? What…is all this?" He asked, close to crying as much as Zexion seemed right now as well.

"Nothing. Just something to help me stay awake is all." Zexion said his face like stone except for the tears that were slowly spilling over.

"Stay awake?"

Zexion nodded. "You know… For studying…"

"Studying? You're...!" Demyx closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "You're doing drugs so you can _study _longer?"

"Look, I know what it sounds like, but you have no idea the kind of pressure I'm under. I have to get every single AP class in all A's for grades if I even want to _think_ about going to Ivy League. And my parents have been talking about it for forever, you heard them that day. They were so excited to have a son who was going to 'smart kid college' I just… I didn't want to let them down."

Demyx opened his eyes and walked over to Zexion and un-tied the shoe lace from Zexion's arm and sat him on hid bed. "Zexion…" He said as he enveloped him in a tight hug. "What am I going to with you?" He said mostly to himself.

"Ugh, Demyx let me go." Zexion pulled himself free and stood up. "It's not a big deal. I'll stop doing this once school's over."

Demyx narrowed his eyes a bit. "High school or college too?"

Zexion looked down. "I don't know."

Demyx licked his lips in habit and moved towards Zexion, who backed up slightly at his sudden movement. But Demyx wasn't going for Zexion. He was going for the needle on the floor in front of the desk. But before he got to it, Zexion dove for it and snagged it behind him and blocked the bottle from Demyx's sight and reach.

"Zexion…" Demyx pleaded, "Give me the needle."

Zexion's eyes were huge and he was trembling slightly. "No."

"_Please_, Zexion. _Please_."

"No."

"You don't even understand, do you?" Demyx asked vehemently.

"What?" Zexion yelled at him. "What do I need to understand?"

Demyx gripped his wrists with both hands and couldn't stop the tears from dropping.

"You could die, Zexion! _Die!_ Is that what you want? To die before you even reach graduation?" Demyx cried at him, the images of Rufus lying in the hospital bed, dying slowly from all the drug use, came crashing back all at once.

"I'm not going to! Now leave me alone!"

Zexion twisted and turned but Demyx didn't let him go. Instead, he turned and threw him back on his bed, following him and pinning him there. "Listen to me! Zexion, you _have_ to stop! It's not good, it's not healthy. It'll take over your life and you won't have anyone else but you and those drugs! Believe me! And the instant you finally realize you're done for, it's too late! I can't see you like that, Zexy… I just can't. I won't let you." Demyx told him.

He saw Zexion's expression soften as he went on. "Demyx? Did you…"

Demyx sighed and let him go, sitting on the bed still, facing the wall instead of the steel-blue eyed boy who hadn't moved yet. "No… Not me. My," His voice broke, "My brother. But he was started later than you did. He was in college and working full-time, helping our parents with the house they just bought and basically being there for me when they would just ignore me."

"You're brother? I didn't know you had any siblings." Zexion said, finally sitting beside him and looking at his face intensely.

Demyx could only nod as the memories assaulted his brain viciously. "I don't like talking about him. It was couple years ago. I was still in middle school when it happened."

He heard Zexion sigh and then nothing else was said between them. Demyx was just staring at the floor, remembering the last words he ever said to his brother, and now that he thought about it, they were the last words he ever heard his parents say too. One word sentences consisting mostly of 'No.' didn't count. That was probably why they had become more and more distant over the years until they stopped all contact, to put it nicely.

He felt Zexion get out of the bed and didn't move until he heard something clang in the trash can that was beside his desk.

He looked up and saw that Zexion was still staring at him, but the drugs, the empty bottle, and the needle were gone – Zexion had thrown them out. The boy then walked back to him and bent down in front of him, maintaining eye level.

"Alright," He said, "You win. I'll stop. I'll study the old-fashioned way and set a schedule. That all good enough for you?"

Demyx knew he wasn't being bitter about it; Zexion was just trying to make sure Demyx approved. But Demyx didn't really care what he did, as long as drugs weren't involved.

He leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together and their noses slightly touching, he never once looked away from those steel-blue eyes that reeled him in on the first day. "Yes. Thank you." He lifted his arms and gently brought Zexion's lips to his in a loving but passionate kiss, not being able to help himself by thinking that he could've lost Zexion the same way he lost his brother. He clung onto the younger boy tightly, not wanting to ever let go.

But eventually the need for oxygen became too great to ignore and they separated, and remained silent once again for a while.

They had moved themselves onto the bed, just holding each other close, Zexion's back was molded to Demyx's back as Demyx's long arms wrapped themselves around the boy, which were held to Zexion's chest by Zexion himself.

"Do you ever think about your brother anymore, Demyx?" Zexion asked after several minutes of silence.

Demyx moved to nuzzle his neck before answering his question. "Sometimes. Not often."

Zexion turned so that they were now face-to-face within a couple centimeters of each other. "What was he like?"

Demyx opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by the door downstairs opening and closing, signaling that Zexion's parents were home. Their heads shot up at Zexion's mother calling for her son to come downstairs, so they moved off the bed and towards the door. But before Zexion could pass through it, Demyx stopped him.

"Promise me you'll throw it away." Demyx said, meaning the drugs that were currently lying by themselves in the metal trash can.

Zexion nodded. "I promise."

Demyx smiled at him and let him through following him downstairs where Zexion's parents were waiting, and were shocked when they saw him follow their son down the stairs from his room. Zexion's mom was smiling, but he thought he saw her throw him a worried look before he excused himself and left the house, politely saying good-bye to them all before he left.

_Great, _Demyx thought sarcastically, _now they think I was having sex with their fourteen (almost fifteen) year old son… Sorry, I'm no pedophile. _

He walked towards his apartment at a slow pace, not be able to stop the thoughts of Zexion replacing Rufus on the hospital bed. He squeezed his eyes shut, as if that would banish the thoughts from his mind.

_He promised. _He told himself over and over again. _Zexion promised he'd throw it away. _

But the little voice in the back of his head told him that was exactly what Rufus said when their dad caught him. And two weeks later, he overdosed and died…

* * *

WITH SEIFER

He couldn't seem to get Namine out of his head. It was hurting his already bleeding grades in school, and he couldn't afford to fail everything on his senior year.

She moved. So he should move on. He couldn't keep worrying about her, when obviously she wasn't anywhere near him so he couldn't exactly comfort her. For all he knew, she could already have a new boyfriend and be laughing with him, hugging him, kissing him, _loving_ him. He couldn't stand to think of that. And besides, he knew Namine better than that. She wouldn't have a new boyfriend after only a week. She was too smart for that.

He had thought of going to see her, but one; he didn't know where she lived, two; he'd look like an ass showing up after all he said to her… But the second excuse was wearing away and he was thinking of ways to get her address. He would ask Kairi, or Sora, but he didn't really know them all that well. They only interacted when Namine was around. Seemed like a lot of his friends, besides Riku, were friends with him because of Namine… _Riku!_

He scrambled for his phone in his pocket, and dropped it once in his haste, but thankfully, it wasn't broken and he dialed Riku's number. The bastard was slow to pick up but he picked up nonetheless.

"_What?" _Riku growled.

"Do you have Namine's address?" Seifer rushed out.

He heard Riku tell someone something and then he replied, "Namine's address? Yeah, why?"

"I need it. I'm gonna go see her. Text it to me, okay, cause I don't have anything to write it down with and I don't want to get the wrong house."

Riku chucked. "That would be hilarious."

"No," He growled back, "it wouldn't. So, I'm gonna hang up and you text me the address. If you don't, I swear, Riku, I'll tell Xion every embarrassing thing about you. Including you're little crush on her look-alike a while back."

He scoffed. "She already knows. Sora let it slip at school."

"Does she know about Larxene?"

Seifer smirked at the silence that followed his sentence. He knew he won.

Suddenly, Riku was hissing at him, obviously very angry. "You say anything and I key your car."

He didn't really know what all the fuss was about. He only dated Larxene for two weeks to be nice, but eventually couldn't take her attitude anymore and dumped her. But Seifer knew he regretted it.

"Whatever. Just give me the address, old man." He knew Riku hated being called 'old man' because of his already silver hair, which was why he said it in the first place.

"You know, Namine might not like a visit from you."

"I know just text me the address, Riku. Bye."

"Bye."

Seifer hit 'End' but didn't close it. He sat on his bed, staring at the phone until it vibrated. He opened the text and sure enough it was Namine's new address from Riku. He texted back 'Thanks.' and leaped up, grabbed his keys and took off.

On the way he thought he might want to set up his GPS seen as how he didn't have any idea where this place was and found out he had to turn around. He had to fill up his tank once also on the way because it was half full when he left. Eventually, he _did_ get there though.

When he pulled into their new driveway he didn't waste any time jumping out of his car and launching himself toward the door, knocking harshly several times before someone eventually yelled, "Alright, alright, I'm coming!"

The door swung open to reveal Kairi, looking angry and then surprised, and then angry again.

"What the _hell _are you doing here?"

He sighed to himself. He should've known Kairi would know what he said to Namine the last time they spoke. And he also should've known she'd be pissed. "Look, I know you're pissed at me, and I know you have every right to be, but listen. I feel like an ass –"

"You should." She interrupted, but he continued as if she hadn't.

"but I _need _to see her. I _have _to. I need to tell her how sorry I am, and that I'll never say anything like that again, how I –" He stopped himself this time. He didn't really feel like Kairi how he felt about Namine. Namine had to be the one to hear it first.

He saw Kairi's expression soften slightly. "How you what?" She asked, all the venom gone from her voice, leaving only curiosity and caution.

He gulped. "I'd rather tell her first."

Kairi narrowed her eyes at him, apparently trying to decide whether to let him in or send him away.

After a few moments of them staring at each other, she broke the silence. "She's not here."

Seifer scoffed in disbelief. "Kairi, I know you hate me, I get it, alright? But you don't have to lie to me about where she is or isn't."

He saw Kairi roll her eyes at him. "No. I'm serious. She's not here. She's off at some park or something I guess. She always goes there, she's hardly ever home ever since we moved here."

Seifer scrunched his eyebrows at this. "Do you know where?"

She nodded and recounted the address. "It's about two blocks away."

He thanked her and rushed back to his car and sped off. Once he was on the street that Kairi said he slowed down and started scanning the area for anyone with blonde hair. He was about ready to turn back to ask Kairi again when he saw her.

She was swinging by herself while a family of four was playing on the slides on the other side of the park. He momentarily stopped breathing and parked on the side of the road near the park, just watching her. In the back of his mind he knew he was probably looking like the worlds biggest stalker right now, but he didn't care. That short week that he hadn't seen Namine had been hell. And now, it felt like it had been months. He eventually couldn't take it anymore and got out of his car and strode straight to her, causing her to shove her feet into the dirt to stop her and stare at him.

They remained like that for a while, just looking at each other, not speaking. Seifer couldn't hear her breathing, maybe she was holding her breath, like him, he didn't know. All he knew was that he was slowly moving toward her, staring into those wide, bright-blue eyes of hers and not wanting to look away ever again. How could he feel this strongly about someone, he didn't fully understand. But he did. And he wasn't going to deny her any longer, if she would accept him, he'd make sure she knew he'd always be there for her, no matter what.

He stopped moving once he was directly in front of her, causing her to incline her head slightly to look him in the eye, and for that, he was grateful. Her eyes were beautiful to him, even though he remembered in her sophomore year; she told him she hated her eyes because they made her seem innocent. He had smirked and ruffled her hair, telling her she was and that didn't have to be a bad thing. He felt the tug of a smile as he thought about her response to him saying that and the slight bruise she left on his leg the next day.

"Hey, Namine." He said, at a loss of what else to say other than the normal greeting between friends.

"Hi, Seifer." Came her reply, her voice was in the same tone as his, letting him know that she didn't know what to say either. He couldn't have them just stare at each other dumbly, trying to think of a way to make this situation a little less awkward, so he broke the short silence between them.

"Alright, I'm gonna get to the point here." He began, "Namine… I'm sorry. You have no _idea_ how sorry I am. I feel like shit, like the worlds biggest asshole, and…" he sighed, not wanting to hear her response if it was going to turn him away from her forever, but he had to say it. There was no turning back. "And I need to know if you can forgive me. After what I said to you before I would understand if you didn't, but know something before you say something." He reached out and gripped her hand, squeezed it and stepped closer to her. "Namine, I love you. I think I've loved for a while now and I've just been an idiot to realize it before now. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it and say it to you out straight, instead of just throwing it out there in anger, but I'm saying it right now, and I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't deny me." _Memo to self: thank Riku for that speech._

To his surprise and disappointment, Namine broke into a loud fit of laughter, causing passerby's to stare as they went, and caused Seifer to freeze where he stood and drop her hand, his mouth hanging slightly open. He had thought he had said everything right. He had done exactly what Riku told him to a couple days before when he told him he wanted to see Namine again but was weary of what to say. He memorized it for Pete's sake! And now, it had earned him her laughing at him and him standing there like an idiot. And it was beginning to sink in that she probably thought he was being an idiot.

"Oh, Seifer, Seifer, Seifer…" She giggled. "You really ought to stick with your own words. Anyone else's just sounds so wrong coming from your mouth."

He blinked a couple times and gave her a lopsided smile. "What?"

She shook her head while smiling at him. "You didn't have to ask anyone what the right words were to say to me. Just say whatever you think is right. So, try it over again, but say what _you _want to say, not what other people _told_ you to say."

He stood there, stunned for a minute, slowly beginning to understand what she wanted before letting the words tumble from his lips without thinking them all the way through.

"I love you." Was all he said, but somehow, he figured that was all he would need to say. Namine was a simple girl, and didn't really deal well with a lot to work with; she was like him in that respect.

He saw her smile grow a bit wider before she answered, "I love you, too."

He had never heard her say that to him before and her saying it now, even though it was pretty apparent before, it still gave him a chill to hear her say it out loud. But he was at a loss at what to say yet again. He didn't really feel like saying, "Great… So, uh, you wanna tell me what's going on with you now that we got that outta the way?" was right for this time.

"So," Namine started, "does this mean you're my boyfriend or…" she led off, letting him take it how he wanted.

"I guess it does."

She nodded to herself. "So, I guess it's _my _turn for the apology now."

Seifer raised an eyebrow. "How do you figure that?"

Namine shrugged and continued. "Well, for me, uh, pushing you away the last time we saw each other. That wasn't fair to you, but, honestly, I couldn't help it. And I need you to understand that I wasn't telling you to 'stay away' as in permanently," _Well, the intention was clear enough. _"I just meant to give me some room or something, not keep coming at me."

He groaned. "Do we really need to talk about this? It's over, it's done. We can't go back and change anything, and I really don't want to _think_ about it. So can we just drop it?"

Namine shook her head. "No. You _need_ to hear this, but…" she took a deep breath, "but you have to promise me that one, you'll keep your mouth shut, and two, you won't over-react and keep in mind this happened _months _ago, can you do that?"

He nodded and gestured for her to go on.

"Okay, you remember when I was dating Axel, right?"

He gave her another stiff nod. He hated being reminded of that. That, that _idiot_ had gotten her before he could even know how he felt about her, and he had to watch as Namine slowly stopped hanging out with him and Riku and more with Axel. And Axel had used her like trash and left her at some party…_alone_, with a bunch of perverts who could've done anything to her.

"Well, do you remember that party he left me at after he dumped me?" She asked, looking at him weirdly.

"Yes…" Said Seifer slowly. Why was she asking him all of this?

"I know this seems weird, but I really can't _not_ tell you anymore. I haven't told anyone, and I think you're the person I trust the most besides my sister, and I haven't even told her yet."

"Told her what?"

He had a sinking feeling that he shouldn't ask, and he also knew somehow that he didn't want to know the answer, but he couldn't help but ask.

"At the party, after he left, I stayed in the bedroom he left me in. I didn't make a sound, but somehow, I guess he heard me in there."

He didn't want her to continue but made no move to silence her. She went on with her story and Seifer already knew how it would end.

"One minute I was alone, under the covers, the next he was on top of me. I couldn't fight him, not when he had two of his friends there binding my wrists together and holding my ankles down. And then it was over, he never said a word to me or them, he took what he wanted, and left me there, bound and bleeding. The blood on my face and the sheets was impossible to get off… But I managed."

"You mean he-"

"Raped me? Yes. That's why I jumped back from you that day. I never really got over it and that just brought everything back."

Seifer grabbed her and held her close. "Namine, I'm so sorry. I'm gonna beat the shit out of Axel for leaving you there."

He heard her give him a watery laugh. She was crying. "I don't think he knew what was going to happen. And besides, I think he's changed a bit. Or at least, he better have. I told him I'd run him over if he hurt Roxas like me and Xion and who knows who else."

"Well, I'm still going to have a word with him. Why haven't you told anyone? Especially Kairi, or Riku, or Leon, as long as it was someone, Namine."

She pulled back from him slightly and looked at him giving him the famous, "Are you crazy?" look; the tears fell from her eyes but no more followed. "Tell _Leon_ that _Axel_ left me at a party with a bunch of drunk perverts which resulted in my rape? Leon would be in jail for Axel's murder if I told him that…"

"How can you talk about it like it's nothing but have… _reactions_ to it? It just doesn't make sense…" Seifer said not quite getting how Namine acted about the bad things that happen to her. It was more things to add to his 'impossibly confusing' list about her.

Namine shrugged. "I'm fine talking about it; I just can't… relive it, if you get what I mean. It's not a big deal to me now; it was a couple months ago, but after everything else that has been happening with Kairi, Sora, and Roxas… I guess I don't see a point in dwelling on things that can't be changed."

"Right, well, I'll help you get over that whole sex issue, cause, well, I've been practicing abstinence unwillingly and I don't know much more I can take." Seifer teased, hoping to lighten the conversation that suddenly turned serious. It wasn't that he didn't get how big of a problem this was for Namine, he got it completely, but he didn't want _her _to linger on any more than necessary, and so he changed the subject hoping to lighten the mood.

To his pleasure, she let out a light laugh at the remark. "Well, we can't have big, bag Seifer having to go any longer without having sex, can we?"

"Nope. So, is there a hotel you know of or-"

She playfully hit him and scolded him for being a pervert to which he smiled in response. "And that'll probably never change, I hope you know."

"I know." She rolled her eyes at him and asked him if he could give her a ride home as it was getting late and they both had school the next day.

He nodded grabbed her hand and leading her towards his car and even opened the door for her. "Well, aren't you the gentleman today."

"Ha! Did you forget the conversation we were just having?"

He ran over to his side of the car and hopped in as she was nodding to herself. "Ah, yes. You're sex deprived. So this all is just another way to 'get me in the mood'?" She formed air-quotes with her hands as he pulled away from the sidewalk and drove off to her house after making a dangerous maneuver in the middle of the street to turn around. Namine was used to his driving so he didn't expect her to scold him for it.

"Nah. I'm just being nice… Don't get used to it, though."

"I'll keep that in mind." She said before moving to look out the window.

As he drove her home he thought about what she just told him and he thought back to her reaction in her room at her old house. How could he have missed it? He was supposed to 'love' her and all he did was make her feel like crap about something that she had no control over. Sure she sounded as if she didn't care about what happened to her, but he knew that she did, he could see it when she was recounting it all to him. It still haunted her. It might for the rest of her life, but he'd make sure he was there for her whenever she needed him.

_Riku's making me a sap. _He groaned to himself, but he didn't take anything back. Hopefully, she'd be more open about visits like these in the future. Because he planned on coming back every weekend if he could. He was determined to get the old, care-free, not-faking-happiness, Namine that was there before all of this Axel mess even started. She was gonna come back. He'd make sure of it.

**A/N: Yay! I'm done another one! And holy crap this was a long one. **

**Now, I'm sure all of you are skeptical about Namine's feelings about her rape, but honestly, Seifer's right. She's basically driving it to the back of her brain because of all the drama that is surrounding everyone she cares about and she felt she was being selfish if she let it rule her life anymore, she also would like to be closer to Seifer than her scarred side is letting and she feels that if she acts as if she doesn't care about it anymore, it'll eventually be true. **

**And yes, Zexion and Demyx's problems are not over, this was just introducing their plot line. And now everyone has some crazy drama going on and their loved ones are trying to help them through it… So, now everything should be getting more developed and less in-your-faceish. **

**REVIEW please! **


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: -beats head against a wall 3784623846732 times- Ahem. **

**SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY! Ugh! I can't seem to say sorry enough to all of you! I know it doesn't even BEGIN to repay this… I'm sooo sorry this chapter has come UBER late! I was all discombobulated, and couldn't find it in myself to write a chapter for the next scene I wanted to do! So, hopefully, you all can forgive me! **

**Thanks to; **_Random Person (awesome), RoseRiku, _**and** _Riku'sAngel_ **for reviewing the last chapter. **

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Kingdom Hearts or FF. I simply own the plot of this story… **

**The To Do List**

**Chapter 17**

**

* * *

**The first thing Roxas knew once he woke up was that he wasn't in his room. He wasn't even in his own _house_.

It was the light that woke him up. It was streaming down on his face and then there was a body moving underneath him. A very _naked_ body.

His eyes grew wide as the blonde shot upright and fixed his gaze on red hair and emerald eyes.

Axel.

"Axel?" He wondered. Thousands of questions swarmed his brain. He could barely understand what Axel said when he replied.

"Hey, Roxie."

It was then that Roxas realized that he _also_ lacked clothes. When this realization came to light he launched himself away from the couch they had evidently slept on and shot towards the kitchen, hiding behind a counter, eventually locking eyes with Axel who looked at him like he was crazy. He _felt_ crazy. He had no idea what was going on and he didn't remember anything besides Axel asking him to have his father let him spend the night again.

"What the _hell_, Axel? Is this your idea of some sick joke?" He asked coldly, glaring at the older boy who was still leaning lazily across the couch.

"So, now you're playing dumb, Roxas? Real cute. It's okay you know, I'm not going to announce to the world we did the horizontal slide."

Roxas' mouth fell open and his eyes bugged out even more. "We _what?_"

Axel raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, come _on_, Roxas! Really? You don't remember _anything_?"

"N-no. The last thing I remember was you asking for me to spend to the night."

He knew that it was strange to have this normal of a conversation when they were both in the nude. But considering the recent events, there wasn't really anything he and Axel could hide from each other, so their bodies weren't a distraction.

Although, he felt his whole body begin to tremble at the thought that he could've forgotten a couple hours at a time. He didn't want this to happen. Not again.

"That's it?" Axel asked finally beginning to look concerned.

Roxas nodded. They didn't speak to each other for a while. Roxas watched as Axel averted his gaze and was looking at the floor now, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"Axel?" Roxas asked, his voice taking a child-like tone to it. Axel looked at him. "So, we…" he couldn't form the words he needed. "We, actually, uh, well…you know."

"Yeah…" The red-head replied solemnly. His eyes had that dead look in them that told Roxas that Axel was shutting down. Closing off all feeling and emotions. It was how he coped when his parents died.

"Uh, are you okay?" He asked, hoping he could stimulate something other than depression to appear on Axel's face.

Rolling his eyes at him, Axel replied, "What do you think, Roxas? I just had sex with my best friend, possibly ruining everything, and he doesn't even _remember_ it."

Roxas looked down, tears collecting fast. "It's just like last time…" He whispered to no one in particular.

He heard Axel get up from the couch and go in his room. Moments later jeans and a wife beater smacked him in the head as Axel threw him some clothes. He looked up and was met with a fully dressed Axel, who had hid his expression from him, his face blank as he told him to get dressed.

Roxas obeyed, not knowing what to say to the older guy. In the back of his head, he wished he could remember what apparently was so important to Axel, but the other part was screaming that it was better off this way.

"So, are you gonna call your dad to tell him where you are, or have Sora show up again to get you?"

Axel's voice sounded dead, and he hated it.

"Uh, yeah, do you think I could use your phone?" He asked, weary to ask at all but he couldn't even remember if he brought his…

Axel nodded and fished it out of his pocket. "Here. Let me know when you're done."

Roxas took it and dialed the number. Unfortunately for him, Sora was the one who answered - not his father. After letting Sora scream his little heart out, he finally told him he was fine and at Axel's. Sora offered to go pick him up but then claimed he'd walk, even though he could probably get Axel to take his motorcycle to bring him if he really wanted to. Roxas had to reassure his brother twice that he was fine and to not go straight over before the brunette finally gave in and let him be. Roxas sighed and gave the phone back to Axel.

_Typical Sora. Always worrying way too much about m_e.

"So, are do you need a ride or what?"

Roxas shook his head. "No. I'll walk. It'll give me time to think…"

Axel nodded. "Alright, call me when you get there to let know you're alright."

"I will."

Roxas looked around the apartment. He couldn't remember if he'd brought anything with him or not…

"You didn't."

He spun around; Axel was looking at the ground and didn't say anything else.

"Huh?" He asked, not quite sure if the red-head was talking to him or not.

"Bring anything with you. You didn't." He answered gloomily, walking over to his fridge and dragging out a bottle of Jack Daniels that Roxas didn't know he had. He opened it and took a couple swigs.

Roxas was bewildered. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

Axel smirked at him and pointed to himself. "Best friend, remember?"

Roxas sighed and smiled. "Yeah…" At least he still had that to hang on to.

He stood there for a moment, looking at the floor, and thinking about what to say to make this less awkward. Thankfully, Axel was good with uneasy silences and spoke up before the tension got too intense.

"Hey, do you wanna go out sometime?" Roxas looked up at him. Axel didn't have the bottle of hard liquor in his hand anymore, and he was walking towards him. "You know, like out to eat or bowling or something like that."

"Uh, like a date?"

Roxas' eyes grew wide. He couldn't believe he just said that. Of course not like a date. Axel was his best friend, not his boyfriend. But then again, they did sleep together… No! Axel has slept with plenty of people and NOT dated them before or after. This time would be no different. And he probably just made this worse. But to his surprise and slight relief, Axel started chuckling.

"Well, duh. I don't know people who just go out and do stuff like you would on a date and have it not be a date. Honestly, Roxas… thought you knew me better than that… I'm disappointed." He teased.

"Well, some do. Friends going out and doing stuff like that and have it not be a date I mean."

"But not me." Axel's face was now mere inches from his. "So, is that a yes or a no?"

Roxas didn't know what made him be so bold, but one second he was staring into emerald orbs of heaven and the next his lips were plastered onto Axel's and he was clinging to him like he would die if he let go. He was ecstatic and almost died of happiness when Axel responded eagerly and pulled him closer to him and held him tight. As he greedily swept his tongue over Axel's lips, desperately wanting to let their tongues touch, Roxas didn't even care that he could slightly taste the alcohol Axel had drunk from just a few seconds ago. All he wanted was to kiss Axel like no tomorrow, and so help him, he was going to do it.

Axel's moan caused Roxas to get more aggressive as he decided he couldn't wait and just plunged in, exploring Axel's mouth with fervor. Roxas let out a moan. He tasted _so_ good, like something out of a Fabio novel, where everything is either really complicated or filled with action or an X-rated scene and Roxas really hoped they were getting to the X-rated scene right now.

But to his surprise, Axel was the first to pull away and step back. "So, I'll take that a yes?" He said, smirked at him, his lips red and swollen from Roxas' sudden attack.

Roxas nodded eagerly, not fully believing this was truly happening.

This seemed like something out his dreams that he's had since he was in eighth grade, when his attraction to his best friend fully set in without Roxas trying to ignore it or pass it off something else he was responding to. His heart was still pounding from their kiss and his head was spinning with all the drama that has been happening lately and _finally _something good happened to counter it. It felt nice.

Axel chuckled lightly. "Alright, then. So, go home, rest for a while, and then tomorrow we'll get together for our little date, okay?"

"Okay." Roxas said breathlessly.

"Bye, Roxie." Axel smiled.

"Bye, Axel."

Roxas moved almost zombie like out Axel's apartment and onto the sidewalk. The entire way home he was thinking of nothing and no one besides Axel. He felt like collapsing and screaming on the sidewalk. But it wasn't out of stress, just intense relief and he needed to get rid of his excitement somehow, so he decided to run. He would run the entire way home, and not stop. So he did.

A little while later, he was walking up his porch steps and to his door, breathing harshly.

"Okay, maybe running wasn't such a good idea after all." He huffed to himself.

Once he had opened the door, he came face to face with Sora who looked like he was about ready to bolt out the door Roxas had just come in.

"Hey, Sora. I'm home." He said, his breathing finally in order. "What's up?"

Sora looked at him. "Where have you been?"

"I was at Axel's overnight. We had an intense game of Mario Kart on his new Wii." Roxas laughed, enjoying the memory that came crashing back all of a sudden.

"Right." Sora crossed his arms across his chest. "Anything else?"

Roxas felt the blood drain from his face. Did he know? "Uh, I don't think so. What are you talking about?"

Sora sighed and came closer to Roxas, who stepped back in response. "Sora… what the hell are you talking about?"

"Roxas… Did you sleep with Axel? Tell me you didn't. _Please_, Roxas. Tell me you have more sense than that."

Roxas narrowed his eyes. "Yes." He said, sternly. "I did. Not that that is any of your business."

Sora's mouth fell open. "You're kidding, right? You're not serious, right? _Right_, Roxas?"

"No. I'm not."

To his surprise, Sora's eyes filled with tears. _What the hell? _

"Oh, god… Oh, god… Oh, god…" Sora repeated over and over, sitting down on a chair by the kitchen table, his head in his hands, looking utterly defeated.

"Sora? What's with the theatrics? It's not like you slept with him, it was me. I mean, you're acting like you… care. About Axel and me. Sora?" Roxas said slowly. He didn't like what his head was telling him. Sora didn't care. He had Kairi. Sora wasn't even gay! Was he?

"Of course, I care! Roxas! You're my brother! How can I NOT care?"

Roxas blinked several times. Trying to remember how to breathe.

"Roxas… You remember what he did to Namine and Xion don't you?"

That snapped everything back in place. He finally understood now.

"Of course I do. But Axel isn't like that anymore!" His voice was rising with every word being said, "He's changed! He apologized to everyone!"

Sora laughed bitterly. "That's not what I heard from Demyx."

Roxas made a face. "Since when do you talk to Demyx?"

"Since he told me you were on Axel's 'list'."

Time froze. Roxas froze. He couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. He couldn't do anything. Just let the sentence that Sora blurted out engulf him in its flame.

"You're wrong." Came his small voiced denial.

"I wish I were, Roxas." Sora said gently. "But face it. Why would Demyx lie? And it's not like this wouldn't be a first time for him to screw over his friends, no pun intended."

Roxas didn't want to listen. He headed for the door again, this time, exiting the house. He heard Sora follow close behind him, still trying to convince him that Axel had used him.

"Roxas, listen to me!" His brother screamed at him, still following him now down the street. "As soon as he was done with Xion he's been like a dog in heat around you. Explain that to me!"

He halted. "What else have you been asking around for about me? Did you make it your personal mission to know every single thing about me? Is that it? You need to know everything single thing about my life, right? Well, did you know that I've been in love with him since eighth grade? Did you also know that I've been _so _close to giving him my virginity this year? It's almost happened about three times, and when it eventually did, I can't fucking remember it! Is that what you wanted to know? Does that _satisfy_ you!" He was screaming by this point, but he didn't care. He didn't care if the whole town showed up for this. He just didn't care anymore. He couldn't understand how Sora could ruin his happiness like this. The one time things are close to becoming okay after everything that's happened, and he just slaps him in the face with it. He didn't _want_ to understand.

"Roxas…" Sora pleaded. His name telling him that Sora wanted him to listen and to stop freaking out. But he knew he couldn't, not until he asked Axel what this was about, and definitely ask him why the hell his roommate would spread rumors about them.

"No! I'm not going back and I'm not talking to you! I hate you! Everything's all dandy for you and you have to ruin this one good thing for me! Well, I refuse to listen, Sora! I'm done with you, I'm done with dad, I'm done with mom, and I'm _definitely_ done with this fucking LIST!"

And he took off running again, trying to ignore his vision blurring as the tears collected fast and began to fall rapidly. He followed the same route he took home. And eventually, he got back to the one place he knew he would be happy, _could_ be happy.

He didn't even knock once he got to the apartment door. He just burst open the door and ran straight for Axel's room, not bothering to close the door or even announce he was there. After throwing the door out of his way, and jumping straight into his heaven's arms he let the sobs go.

"R-Roxas? Hey, what's up? I thought you were going home? Couldn't stay away from me long, huh?" His bewildered best friend said, obviously trying to make sense of what just happened and covered up his confusion with a little cockiness.

Roxas opened his mouth, but the sobs only grew louder as he clung on tighter to Axel's shirt.

"Okay, okay, hey… Let's go to the bed, and then you can explain everything." Axel said gently, hugging him back. Roxas nodded into his shirt but didn't let go. And Roxas felt himself being dragged to the bed and set down and awkwardly, his hold remained on the red-head.

"Okay, well, now that you're comfy and all, you wanna tell me what happened?"

Roxas shook his head. He heard Axel sigh, and hold him tighter. "You know you're gonna have to eventually." He nodded again. "Well, why don't you calm down while I go take a shower? You can play a game or something while you're waiting." Another nod.

As Axel went to leave, Roxas spoke up finally, asking the question that's been burning in his mind for a while. "Do you _care_ about me at all? I mean, was last night just another fling to you?"

Roxas looked up at him, eyes swimming with tears. _Please say no. _He begged to himself. _Please._

Axel turned, wearing a look that Roxas had never seen on his face before his leapt forward and captured his lips once again. As their lips moved against the others, Roxas wrapped his arms around Axel's neck, bringing him closer as the tears fell and his body shook. This kiss wasn't a frenzy like the others had been. It was passionate, but soft and -dare he think it?- loving. Roxas' heart swelled and was close to exploding when Axel pulled away, but still close enough that their noses touched.

"Does that answer your question?"

Roxas nodded.

Axel smiled at him. "Okay, then, I'm gonna take a shower. You need anything you yell, okay?" He asked, before pecking him on the lips and leaving.

Roxas sat on the bed and was thrilled beyond belief. Sora was wrong and he was right. Axel has changed. He _did _care about him. Roxas let out a girlish squeal of delight as he did a little jig while looking through Axel's desk, trying to find a game to play while he waited for his knight in shining armor to get out of the shower.

_Yes, yes, yes, yes!_ He mind was screaming at him as he rummaged through papers and books that he was honestly surprised had survived being in Axel's room. A small notebook paper and fallen on the floor and he picked it up, and couldn't help but notice a familiar name on it.

_Xion_

The name had been crossed out, along with others and Roxas in his curiosity, un-crumpled the paper and fully looked at it.

The To Do List

Larxene

Selphie

Meg

Kira

Olette

Yuri

Namine

Xion

The horror washed through Roxas as he read off the list of names that Axel had clearly had sex with and left within the same day. The names shocked him. He couldn't believe that Axel went after Selphie! She was barely into high school! And Olette has been with Pence for nearly two years! Either this list is really old or she cheated on Pence… But the one name that really got to him was the last one that hadn't been crossed out yet.

Roxas.

He felt sick. He dropped the paper and bolted for the trash can and vomited only bile which began to burn his throat. The puking didn't help once he was done. He walked back to Axel's room and sank down to the floor, crying harder than he did earlier. Sora was right. Of course he was right! How could he not be? Sora would never lie to him! He was his brother, his twin. They used to literally connected at the hip, he still had the scar. How could he believe Axel over his own brother? His stomach lurched once again, but he refused to throw up again.

He heard the shower turn off as he finished scribbling out his own name. It hurt, but he felt that it should be scribbled out because he got played just like the other girls on the list. He would never forgive Axel for this. He couldn't believe that he forgave him after what he did to Namine, but now… He knew exactly how she felt.

As he was walking out the bedroom door Axel came out of the bathroom, with only a towel on. Roxas couldn't help the reaction his body had but he refused to give in to him this time.

"Hey, were you gonna join me in there? Sorry. But maybe we could have that chat I told you we were gonna have before." He said, closing the gap between them.

Roxas stood still. His lips were on fire as Axel explored his mouth with his tongue, but that didn't stop him from winding his fist back and punching Axel in the side of the face before going back in his room and retrieving the paper that had the list on it.

He heard Axel's cry of pain and the cursing that followed it. Once he went back to him, he saw Axel holding the side of his face that Roxas had punched; a bruise was already beginning to form. This brought Roxas some sick pleasure and smugness that smothered all other emotions.

"What the hell was that for!" Axel yelled at him, glaring. And then his eyes swept down the paper Roxas was holding. Roxas held it up to his face.

"Look familiar?"

Axel's eyes grew wide and that told Roxas all he had to know. He shoved the paper into Axel's chest, causing the red-head to stumble back and clutch the paper to his chest. Roxas ran to the door and down the steps and out into the street. He didn't know where he was running to, he didn't care. All he knew was that he had to get away. Get away from Axel, from Sora, from everyone.

And he was too busy running away from everything to notice the truck heading straight for him. As metal collided with bone, Roxas heard a sickening crunch and felt extreme, nauseating pain.

His eye sight was blurring fast, and he couldn't feel his legs. He could barely move. His last thought was about Axel; it seemed that even with him using him the worst way possible, he still loved him. Then his world went black.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, well, yes. I'm an evil, evil person for not letting Axel and Roxas have their moment for at least twelve hours before I ruin things and cause them to be all 'grr' towards each other. Sorry! **

**Anyway, I would greatly appreciate a review! Even if it is for kicking my butt for either the ending or not having updated on this thing in FOREVER! . **


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Hey, guys! It's been FOREVER since I've updated this darn thing! I'm so sorry! And this chapter wasn't even that great but needed to move the core of their side of the story along. I'll be adding some new characters into the mix and hopefully you guys don't mind yet another hump. . **

**Thanks to the previous reviewers from the last chapter. I'll list you on the next chapter. **

**And I know you guys are probably sick of me right now, but I'll also be writing/posting another KH fic. It's going to focus on Axel and Roxas mostly this time. There will be side pairings but the major pairing will be AkuRoku! :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy or the characters. **

**The To Do List**

**Chapter 18**

* * *

WITH LEON

It was times like these that Leon would begin to wonder how he got himself into these messes.

He was sitting quietly in the corner of the jail cell that was now his 'home'. The sound of the guard's shoes slapping against the concrete floor did little for his entertainment. All he had were his thoughts. But that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Now, he could think of was the state Yuffie was in, how her condition would probably worsen now that she was with her father, and his conversation with Cloud during his 'one phone call'.

"**I promise you, Leon. You won't be there for long. I'll call around and see if I can get some help." His best friend had said hurriedly, sounding way too reassuring to Leon to actually **reassure** him. **

"**Oh, really?" Leon replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "And who do you plan on getting help from?"**

**He heard nothing but silence as Cloud thought that out. **

"**My point exactly." **

"**Leon…" **

"**No, Cloud, I don't expect you to get me out of here. I just wanted you to let Yuffie and Kairi and Namine know that I'm okay. I'll figure something out myself. You don't have to worry about me, Cloud. Just make sure that bastard doesn't hurt Yuffie anymore for me." **

"**You know you don't even have to ask me that, Leon. Aerith is making sure she's over there twenty-four seven and since he knows who her father is, he won't touch her." **

"**Okay, good." **

"**Just hang in there, Leon…" For once, Cloud let some real emotion leak. It was obvious he was worried about his friend. **

"**Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."**

**Leon felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to come face to face with a guard. **

"**Wrap it up, Leonhart." The guard said in a gruff voice.**

**He nodded and turned back to the phone. "Alright, Cloud, I gotta go. Just keep Yuffie safe. Let me worry about the rest." **

**And without wanting to hear more false reassurances from his blonde friend, he hung up. **

That had been three days ago and still no sign of freedom. He knew that once he got out he'd have to get Yuffie away from her father. Maybe she could live with Aerith. If not, she'd be more than welcome at his place.

He was nineteen and had moved out of his parent's house a long time ago. They allowed him to stay in their 'getaway' house which had more than enough room for a teenage girl. Although, he'd probably have to go out a buy more food and other essentials she might need, he had more than enough money for it since college isn't an issue because he would take on the family business of car dealerships. He wouldn't mind the extra hours.

"Hey, kid."

Leon looked up and saw a guard looking – no _glaring_ – at him.

"Your court date is in two days."

A sense of relief flew through him. Finally - no more waiting. In two days he'd either make it or break it.

He closed his eyes and imagined getting pardoned. There couldn't be a better feeling than that.

Court wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

It was obvious that the angle the prosecution was going for was as generic as vanilla ice cream with no sprinkles. But the judge didn't seem to keen on him before anyone even opened their mouths. His defender warned him about this.

More often then not, even though they're not supposed to, the judges will overlook the case and make their own assumptions before court is even in session. And more often than not, the man who was accused of beating a woman or young girl will lose.

So, Leon had pretty much resigned himself over to the fact he could be spending twenty years in jail at _least. _That is until a strange man and woman went up to testify _for _him – not against him.

He had never seen them before. Never talked to them, never even looked at them. But they were testifying against Yuffie's father, saying he used to sell them drugs andhad them watch one time when he beat Yuffie when she was younger. Using her as an example of what he could do to them if they told anyone.

They were then asked why they hadn't come forth with the information until now. Which was something Leon wanted to know since they knew an innocent girl was getting abused by her father and didn't anything about apparently for years.

Most of them just said that no one had bothered going against him until now. There was one who said something really strange, a man who was tall, muscular and looked mean.

"Because. I've known Leon for years, and he would never do something like you're accusin' him of, y'know? Before I was too scared that if I said anything little Yuffie wouldn't have anywhere else to go, y'know? That's why."

As much as he appreciated that guy's help Leon couldn't help but want to burst out, "Who the hell are you?" He's never seen this guy and he claims to have known him for years!

After their testimony, Yuffie's father went up and pulled some bullshit about how he'd never hurt Yuffie and he's never even looked at drugs, let alone sells them, and how he was worried for his little girl's well-being if Leon got free today. And by the time that he was done, Leon wanted to throttle him.

And sooner rather than later the verdict came.

"Well, Mr. Leonhart, something from above must think you deserve this because I don't." The judge began. "I think you need to go to jail for a long time, but there is no evidence against you except for the testimony of one man. Therefore, I am _forced_ to pardon you on all charges. You are free to go. Don't make me regret this."

He couldn't believe his ears. He was free? Completely free?

He heard Yuffie's father's cry of outrage and suddenly he didn't care. He hugged his lawyer and whispered "Thank you." before making his way to Cloud and Aerith waiting on the benches. Aerith hugged him and kissed him on the cheek whereas Cloud just gave him a light smile.

"I told you."

Leon rolled his eyes before separating himself from Aerith.

He then noticed the three who testified for him leaving quietly. He muttered to his friends saying he'd be right back and took off after them.

"Hey!" He yelled once he was out of the court house, now in the parking lot. "Hey, wait!"

They stopped and turned to him. The taller man held a smirk on his lips. "Ya need somethin'?"

"Why would you help me? I don't know any of you and you just lied in court for me. Why?" He demanded.

"It helps us in the long run, y'know?" He replied, before turning around and leaving, gesturing the two others to follow him.

Leon narrowed his eyes at their backs. They better not be thinking about coming to him sometime along the rode for any favors. He sure as hell won't do anything for them if they just helped him for their own sake.

"Do you know them?"

Leon spun around and found Cloud and Aerith looking at him curiously, although Cloud seemed to be analyzing the three who had just got into an Escalade and drove out.

"No. Which makes me wonder how the hell they knew what was going on." Leon replied.

"You don't have any idea who they might be?" Cloud asked him.

The brunette shook his head. "Nope. Not a damned clue."

"Know anyone who might?"

"No." Leon repeated.

"Maybe they were just trying to help." Aerith offered making Leon smirk at her.

"Sorry, Aerith, but I seriously doubt that."

Silence fell around them as Leon contemplated what could they could possibly have to gain from helping him.

He didn't cart around drugs, he didn't have any 'connections' besides his parents who were on a 'business trip' for another two years, and he certainly wasn't in any gang. How the hell could helping him help them? How did they know him? He couldn't wrap his head around any of it.

"Leonhart!" He heard someone bellow at him from the court house.

He was then confronted by the one person who he did not want to see. Yuffie's father.

"You may have gotten off this time, but remember this." As the older man got in Leon's face, the teen could smell the coffee on his breath. "You ever go near Yuffie again, you'll regret it. But you won't be the one to pay for it. Think about that." He sneered at him.

Anger caused Leon's whole body to shake as the clear threat to Yuffie sunk in.

"You lay another hand on her, I'll kill you." He snarled at him.

Leon wanted to punch to smirk off his face.

"Watch yourself, boy." Leon could barely hold back the snort from the word 'boy' being uttered. "You don't want me to press more charges against you for criminal threatening." After that he left, leaving Leon fuming behind him.

"That man deserves to be dropped off a cliff somewhere." Aerith said, in her innocent voice that would have had him laughing at her threat had it been any other time.

He stalked off in the other direction, knowing Cloud and Aerith were following him.

"You shouldn't say things like that." Cloud said behind him.

"And why not? He deserves it after all he's done Yuffie."

"I know." Cloud agreed. "But leave the death threats to Leon and me. When you say them it just seems… wrong."

Leon halted. A thought coming to mind. "Hey, Aerith, have you seen or heard from Yuffie since the hospital?"

"No. She's still there though. He hasn't had another chance to hurt her if that's what you're worried about."

He nodded to himself. _At least she's safe for now. _He was content with that, except the 'for now' part killed him. How could he get Yuffie away from her father?

"Aerith, do you think if Yuffie wanted to, she could stay with you?" He asked her, silently begging that she say yes.

"I don't think it would be a problem, but her father is still her legal guardian. He'll probably just say no."

"You let me deal with her father. Just make sure she has a place to stay." He said, taking off in the direction of the library.

The sudden idea he got was genius – if it worked. If it didn't then he was back to square one. _It will work. For Yuffie it will work. _

"You're not going to kill anyone are you?" Cloud asked with slight concern showing.

"No. I'm going to do some research. I'll call you later to pick me up and _bring my truck!_" He yelled back at them as he took off down the street toward the cities small but fully stocked library.

_Time to look up you up, Rai. You helped me once, you better do it again. _

WITH SEIFER

"So, you did it?" Seifer asked anxiously into the phone.

"Yeah, we did it. We just have one more thing to do before we're done here and we'll go get you once it's done."

He closed his eyes as the relief swept through him. _Thank god. _

"Keep in mind, Seifer, you belong to us now. An eye for an eye, y'know?"

He sighed in defeat. "I know." He said.

"I'll be seeing you in three hours."

"Alright."

The sound of the dial tone released his tension that had built up over the minute conversation.

He hung up the pay phone and started walking towards the place they had agreed upon meeting.

The old 'hang out' was underneath a bridge that was apart of the highway. Hardly anyone went down there anymore because of the dangerous drop on one side, so it was perfect for a meeting that you didn't want to get interrupted.

He wasn't exactly surprised when the members from his old gang contacted him a few days ago. He knew somewhere in his brain that he wouldn't be able to just ditch them and expect them to leave him alone. Once you joined their gang there was no going back. You were in for life.

And now they were back, insisting that he had never truly left, and that his brain was just scrambled because of the blonde haired babe with blue eyes had gotten to him. Once his old leader had called mentioning Namine to him he knew it was a subtle threat to her.

He had been secretly in love with Namine for so long and once things had finally begun to go his way they had to screw everything up.

_Life just hates me. _He thought bitterly to himself as he continued walking in the hazy heat.

They wanted him back. They had a major job to do that was both dangerous and beneficial towards the community. They were kind of the 'protectors' of the city except they were willing to kill to protect. That was when Seifer called it quits. He was all for beating up scum bags and making sure they would never walk again, but he wouldn't literally kill anyone.

_Except for Namine… I'd do anything for that girl. _

This is what led him to agree, on the condition they help set something straight for him.

He hoped Leon would just roll with it in court when Rai, Fuu, and Vivi went up and testified for him. Apparently it went on without a hitch, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before Leon figured things out. He wasn't stupid, even though he _was_ held back in kindergarten.

And once Leon figured things out it was bound to get back to Namine and she would know that he broke his promise in not getting involved in anything dangerous. This definitely qualified as dangerous.

Once he got under the bridge he had only waited there for about five minutes before Vivi showed up.

"Hey, kid." Seifer greeted giving him a knuckle punch as a greeting.

"Hey, Seifer."

"So," Seifer began, "where's the rest of the crew?"

Vivi shrugged. "Dealin' with that business man somewhere. Fuu wanted me to come see you, apparently I'm still 'just a kid'. I think its all bullshit to be honest."

"Well, she's right." The blonde agreed. "You should be in school, not doing this crap."

"Hey! I'm not some stupid little kid, Seifer. I can do things…"

"Oh, yeah and what's that?" Seifer smirked at him.

He barely heard Vivi's argument for defending himself. He had missed this. The quiet banter between him and the kid was refreshing. No drama involved and he didn't have to worry about hardly anything.

He felt a slight buzzing in his pocket which caused him to jump slightly.

"Hang on, kid. I gotta take this." Seifer told him before reaching into his pocket and yanking out his phone.

He walked a little ways away and saw that Rai was the one who was calling him.

"Hello?" He greeted.

"He's taken care of." Rai said arrogantly.

"You didn't kill him, did you?"

"No. He's just…out of commission for a while, y'know?"

"Out of commission how?"

"We set it up so that he'll be busted for big time drugs in his house and car. We've already called the cops to check it out on an anonymous tip and they _might_ find a few guns that are there illegally, too." Rai explained.

"So, he should be in jail for how long?" Seifer asked, eager to know.

"A long time. A buddy of mine works with P.D. and if I tell him what a camel turd he is, he'll make sure he goes away for a long time, y'know?"

Seifer sighed in relief. "Good."

"So, we've done our part of the deal, Seifer. You know what you have to do next."

"Yeah. I know a couple drug dealers near where Vivi and I are now. I'll send him towards you before I go raid them." He told him.

"Bring him along."

The blonde's eyebrows shot up in complete disbelief. "Are you joking? I can't bring him with me! There's a good chance he'll get hurt."

"Vivi knows about the hardships of life, Seifer, y'know? This wouldn't be the first time. Just do it, but keep him with you. Fuu will kill you if anything happens to him, y'know."

Seifer growled to himself. Rai could be a total douche sometimes, and these were one those times.

"Whatever," he said before slamming the phone shut and angrily stuffing it in his pocket.

He went back over to Vivi who was throwing empty beer glasses at the edges of the bridge. He sighed. The kid just likes destruction. He wondered how Fuu put up with him.

"Hey, kid!" He called to him, causing the boy to stop in mid-throw and just tossed it to the ground before moving towards him. "We're going on a drug bust. You stay near me and don't do anything stupid."

"What? Why?" He whined in response. "Rai let's me do stuff like this all the time!"

Seifer groaned to himself as he started walking towards the center of town.

_This is gonna be a _long_ day._

* * *

**A/N: I won't waste your time with another long Author Note so I'll just end this with...**

**REVIEW! :D**


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